Travel information for Pacific Islands, Holidays and Resorts
The islands of the South Pacific Ocean have long been one of the worlds most desirable holiday destinations. The environment, the culture and the sheer beauty of these magnificent islands have captured the imagination of westerners since exploration began and the stories of fabulous places like Tahiti, Hawaii and other magnificent islands started to filter back to European civilization. In the early days visitors could only come to see these places by sailing completely around the world. Prevailing winds would only allow ships to travel west to east so the old sailing ships from Britain would have to sail south through the Atlantic ocean, round the cape of Good Hope and then proceed through the Indonesian Islands or south of Australia before heading out into the Pacific Islands. This remoteness meant that colonization of these islands took some time after the first explorers discovered them. As few westerners had actually visited the Pacific islands the aura of paradise that surrounded them grew in peoples imagination and this aura still exists today.
Whilst many of the island groups in the Pacific Ocean are now tourist destinations, there are some that stand out from the rest. Tahiti is probably the one that creates the most evocative response. The image of a pretty hula girl in a grass skirt dancing under the coconut palms has brought many red blooded male tourist to visit these islands over the years. Similarly, Hawaii has been a fantastic draw card for European tourists for generations. While the people of these islands have a culture that European tourists find attractive, the islands themselves are also magnificent. Volcanic hillsides covered with rain forest slide down to shorelines of white or black sand and surf crashing on the fringing reef just offshore. Beautiful coral reefs and lagoons lure divers and snorkelers while cruising yachtsmen find these islands a perfect destination.
The Pacific Island people have a fantastic history. They mastered celestial navigation and built huge ocean going canoes centuries before western man arrived in the region. The Polynesian people migrated from Asia into the pacific thousands of years ago and settled on most of the islands. Around the end of the first millennium AD they began to colonise New Zealand and the Maori people of today are their direct descendants. Other island groups that were colonised by these people include the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga. Further to the west the people change slightly to a Melanesian appearance and places like Fiji and Vanuatu have a population that shows a mixture of both groups. All of these groups of islands are now popular tourist destinations and many holiday resorts exist throughout these island groups.
The islands of Papua New Guinea lie further to the west and directly north of Australia. These island are a melting pot of ethnic island groups. Vastly different cultures exist in tribes separated only by a river or a mountain range. The people of the highlands are of vastly different appearance to the people of the surrounding islands and the cultures range from almost stone age primitive populations living deep in the forests to happy islander people with totally different lifestyles living on these other islands. Papua New Guinea is an emerging nation and a growing tourist destination. it is now one of the few places in the world where you can visit that ancient cultures still exist that have been unchanged for thousands of years.
The South Pacific Islands will always have a special appeal for travellers that will continue to attract tourists to see this incredibly beautiful region.
