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

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 26), with fares from Sydney & Brisbane to Apia priced at $199 one way, for travel during March.

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”. (Photo The Havannah, Vanuatu)

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 a slight smoky backnote” – now that’s a chocolate asking to be savoured with a nice wine!

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.  Here’s the link.

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 say, “played hard, done good” young man!

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, aka ‘Pin’ who has taken over management at Sunset.

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 ‘yes’… Woo-hoo! Big congrats to you both!!

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 menu were invaluable to us.  Having organised our wedding and holiday from Australia I was worried that things would go wrong on the day but our wedding day was everything we dreamed it would. Every girl planning a wedding needs to find themselves a Mandi!!”

2012 will see two school groups from Toowoomba head to Vanuatu – Toowoomba Grammar in June and Fairholme College in December – both have a packed itinerary (sample in the pages above) – activities include Mele Cascades, Hideaway Island, Coongoola Cruise, Rentapao River kayaking, Lololima Cascades, the active volcano Mt Yasur and Ekasup Cultural Village.

I just read the sort of money celebrities are paid to turn up at cocktail parties.  Apparently they don’t even have to make small talk, just turn up, flash a few smiles for the happy-snappers and swan off into the night… according to one source, Cate Blanchett was recently the ‘name’ attraction for Louis Vitton three times in Singapore and Van Cleef & Arpels in Hong Kong and with her fee being $250,000 per attendance.  No wonder she’s always smiling – who needs to make movies?!

And I think of Greg Pechan, the owner of the adults only Havannah Resort in Vanuatu, who turned Cate away when she dropped in for lunch because she had the kiddies with her… (SIGH)