Pacific Insider
There's no time like 'island time'…

Congrats to Likuliku – it just keeps picking up awards. The resort picked up Australia’s Luxury Travel Magazine Gold List Award for “Best Overseas Resort” in 2010 and 2011 and is vying for the award again and last Friday picked up “Best Luxury Accommodation” in the annual AON Fiji Tourism Awards for Excellence. Likuliku is [...]

Around Vanuatu Tours is about to launch – it’s not about the ‘tours’ for your humble insider but about the bloke running the operation. Cuddly George, to me, is ‘Vanuatu’ – a tour is more than a bus and an itinerary – it’s all about the guy taking you about – and, believe me, you [...]

Virgin Samoa is up, up and away with the launch of its brand new plane by offering 1,000 seats at half price. The livery for the one aircraft operation features a palm tree design and the tagline – Airline of Samoa – on the jet’s fuselage. The 24 hour sale will launch at midday today (Feb [...]

Fiji, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands all made the Top Ten International Honeymoon Islands in the current Holidays for Couples magazine. To summarise – the Cook Islands offer “castaway chic”, Fiji has “the welcoming smiles of the locals and unlimited water activities” and Vanuatu is “blessed with a raw natural beauty and an easy-going vibe”. [...]

My favourite shopping arcade is The Block in Melbourne and, in there, is my favourite chocolate emporium, Haigh’s. And, in there, they sell blocks of ‘single origin chocolate’, one of which is made from Vanuatu cocoa (they also use cocoa from Peru and Ecuador). The Vanuatu tasting note is, “Premium milk chocolate with caramel qualities and [...]

There were six cruise ships in Port Vila last week – great for the local economy but verrrrry busy! Here is a bit of fun for Chez, hubby and friends who are cruising to Vanuatu at the end of the month – it’s a ‘blog’ from a couple of fictitious characters from Melbourne who ‘did’ Vanuatu a while ago.  [...]

Coconuts Beach Club Resort & Spa was recognised this week by CNN as one of the top ten places in the world to get married. Congrats!  Now – in the photo, the soon-to-be Mrs Skewes looks absolutely stunning… and far be it from me to say that Richard is punching above his weight… but, well… let’s just [...]

After doing a great job managing Sunset Bungalows for three years, Jenny and Roland Cowles have moved on to another tourism opportunity in Vanuatu– managing Hertz car rental in Port Vila. They now get weekends off and can grab a great discount on car hire! PI wishes them well and says hello to Lyndsay Allman, [...]

Speaking of Sheraton… speaking of weddings… speaking of Mandi…! Mandi’s fella, Greg, proposed on the weekend – on the beach at the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast. Here is the proposal. It wasn’t just a random message in the sand – Greg also had the ring to back it up! Mandi gave a verbal [...]

Congrats to Chloe and Bobby who married at the Sheraton in Fiji – Chloe emailed full of praise for Small Guide Travel’s Fiji specialist, Mandi – the full testimonial is on www.SouthPacificWeddings.com.au but, in a nutshell… “…Mandi’s knowledge of everything from the legal requirements of a destination wedding to the best way to plan the [...]