This is a huge and remote region of the world. If you live in Europe it can take 30 hours to get to anywhere here. The flight time from Los Angeles to Sydney Australia is 14.5 hours, and London to Sydney is 21 hours and then you may have connecting flights to your actual destination.
There is so much to see and do so if your going to any Pacific islands from Europe this will not be a weekend getaway. You will need to decide where your going to and what you want to see and do.
As the Pacific stretches from the Arctic to the Antarctic bordering East Asia, North, Central and South America, there are endless activities. You can take romantic getaways in resorts like Bora Bora, explore coral reefs and WW2 wrecks while enjoying tropical paradise.
Oceania and the Pacific Islands are widely spread and contain over 25,000 islands divided into groups:
Australia - The worlds smallest continent is predominantly European in population with all modern amenities and a minority indigenous culture.
Melanesia where most islands lie sourth of the equator and include:
New Guinea - a rugged densely forested tropical island where many inhabitants are unchanged and parts are unexplored bt Westerners. Head hunting was a popular tradition and the west of the island is controlled by Indonesia.
Maluku - formerly know as the "spice islands" this is an Indonesian territory
Papua and West Papua - an Indonesian territory.
New Caledonia -a French republic and popular holiday destination.
Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait Islands) administered by Australia.
Vanuatu - a popular holiday destination.
Fiji - a popular holiday destination despite the military coop.
The Solomon Islands - a group of about one thousand islands east of Papua New Guinea. The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal.
Micronesia where most islands lie north of the equator and include:
The Marianas - a territory of the USA.
Guam - a territory of the USA.
Wake Island - a US military base and off limits to visitors.
Palau - 800 km east of the Philippines and a protectorate of the USA.
The Marshall Islands - a protectorate of the USA.
Kiribati - once known as the Gilbert Islands.
Nauru - stripped of its resources, Nauru uses the Australian dollar as its official currency.
The Federated States of Micronesia - is under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
Polynesia means many islands. These include:
New Zealand with a predominantly European population, all modern amenities and a minority indigenous culture.
The Hawaiian Islands - administered by the USA.
Rotuma - a Fijian Dependency.
Midway Islands - Hawaii and managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Samoa - formerly known as Western Samoa which became independent from New Zealand in 1962 and of of the Pacific's treasures.
American Samoa - says it all really, just like home in Florida.
Tonga - in transition toward becoming a constitutional monarchy nearer to New Zealand than Hawaii.
Tuvalu - a constitutional monarchy midway between Hawaii and Australia.
The Cook Islands - a popular holiday destination north-east of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and American Samoa.
Wallis and Futuna - a French territory.
Tokelau - a territory of New Zealand northwest of the Cook Islands.
Niue - 2,400 kilometres northeast of, and self governing in free association with New Zealand.
The Galįpagos are considered not to be part of Oceania and are administered by Ecuador.
The entire region has been colonized over the past 300 years making for contrasting cultural differences between the Europeanized world and the indigenous cultures of the Pacific which in most regions are struggling to survive. So for visitors, there is the choice of remaining in European society or to venture out into tribal cultures.
Yothu Yindi- "Tribal Voice" Reflecting the attitude of Indigenous Australian people.
Maluku - formerly know as the "spice islands" this is an Indonesian territory 