It was a day starting out with so much promise but we were thwarted by both our lack or organization and Vanuatu's lack of tourism experience.Let me explain. Vanuatu has a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you follow our travels you will know that we try to see UNESCO sites wherever and whenever possible. The site is listed as "Chief Roi Mata's Domain" but it was extremely hard to find any info on how we would get to see the three different sites to the listing. Em...

Lautoka’s recent history is entwined with the fortunes of sugar, which gives rise to its other name, Sugar City. It has a picturesque esplanade, with Mt Koroyanitu providing a hinterland backdrop. As soon as I saw the entry to the markets, I remembered it from 40 years ago. A wonderful array of fresh vegetables and fruit and handicrafts. Lautoka is 5 times the size, population wise, since my last visit but essentially unchanged. We wandered around the main ...

December 1974 and a naive 19 year old arrived in Fiji on her first overseas trip. What an adventure for my 19 year old self in a time when overseas travel was rare and almost unknown for teenagers to achieve. Christmas in a tropical island faraway from my home city of Adelaide, I was the envy of my friends even though they knew I had worked two jobs and very long hours to save the money. Travel agents wrote "snail mail" letters to make bookings with. Overseas ban...

Personally, I think Sydney shines. It is one of the loveliest harbours and cities in the world. How convenient too, that we could catch the train (one of the best trains in the world too, two storey, clean and untroubled the day we rode) in from near Mount White right to Circular Quay where our cruise ship was docked. There was the opera house right in front of us absolutely shining in the morning light against the bluest of blue skies. Then a nice surprise - w...

We are never ones for major highways. They are boring, rushed and are only for getting from A to B quickly. We have six days to get from Brisbane to Sydney, from where we take our second cruise to the Pacific Islands, so we set off to meander on some scenic roads and to find some of the UNESCO World Heritage Parks noted under the listing of Goodwana Rainforests of Australia.We actually had one day less than planned, because on the way back from our PNG cruise, tw...