The 19 new must-do highlights of the Pacific and Australasia
Tongariro Alpine Crossing is New Zealand’s most spectacular walking trail.Credit: iStock
Nothing says “holiday” more than an expanse of sparkling water, fine wine and nature in her element. Welcome to Oceania.
THE DETAILS: Oceania
- Total land mass 8.526 million square kilometres
- Countries 14
- Total population 46 million
- Main religions Seven
- Biggest Cities Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland
- Did you know? The ocean links this continent rather than tectonic plates.
Walk Tasmania’s wild southern coast
Tasmans Arch, a natural rock bridge over the sea at Eaglehawk Neck, near Port Arthur, Tasmania. Credit: iStock
Australia is home to some of the planet’s most spectacular multi-day hikes. Perhaps the best of them is the four-day Three Capes Walk, which takes you 48 kilometres along the edge of Tasman National Park, looking down on the wild Southern Ocean (with nothing between you and Antarctica). Departing from Hobart to the Port Arthur Historic Site, take a private boat ride to begin your trek. Sleep in new architecturally designed eco-luxury lodges deep in the park, eating Tasmania’s finest produce and wines along the way. See taswalkingco.com.au
Surf the planet’s most legendary reef breaks
Fiji is where you’ll find that perfect wave, and unlike Hawaii, it breaks year-round. Fiji is also where the concept of the luxury surf resort originated. Now the world’s best surf resorts are sprinkled throughout its 333 islands, some on their own private islands, right beside the world’s best waves. With warm water and consistent swell year-round, there’s no off-season, and with more than 100 known wave breaks and many yet to be discovered, there’s rarely ever a crowd (except at the planet’s most revered wave, Cloudbreak in the Mamanucas). See fiji.travel
Explore the world’s most beautiful lagoon
Explore One Foot Island on a lagoon tour of Aitutaki.
Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler calls Aitutaki’s lagoon “the most beautiful on Earth”. Aitutaki’s lagoon in the Cook Islands is four times the size of its land mass (at 74 square kilometres) and is home to 15 tiny islands (motu) all but one of which are uninhabited. Take a day-long private boat tour, or join a traditional Polynesian Vaka cruise across the lagoon which inspired US producer Mark Burnett to create the series, Survivor. Stop for a lunch of barbecued wahoo at One Foot Island, and walk waist-deep in aquamarine water to a sand-spit dubbed Heaven. See cookislands.travel
Plunge deep beneath the world’s best small cruise ship destination
Take a brand-new ship with two submarines aboard to one of the planet’s best destinations for small expedition cruising – the Kimberley (for even Antarctica now hosts ships with more than 1000 passengers). Seabourn Cruise Line, which recently partnered with APT, is debuting a new ship, Seabourn Pursuit, on a 10-day voyage between Broome and Darwin between June and August, featuring seven-person submarines, allowing passengers the closest view of the region’s salt-water crocs, humpback whales and sharks. It’s here that you’ll find 30 per cent of Australia’s 8222 islands in an area three times the size of Great Britain. See seabourn.com; aptouring.com.au
Toast New Zealand’s best wine country
Take the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail for a five-day, 485-kilometre journey through world-class wine country. Start in Hawke’s Bay in the North Island and take cycle trails between wineries and two of the world’s best-preserved art deco towns (Napier and Hastings) before driving south to Martinborough and Wellington, the country’s cosmopolitan capital. Bring your car aboard on a scenic ferry ride across Cook Strait to the Marlborough region, home to the world’s finest sauvignon blancs. See newzealand.com
Dive with a sea of sharks in Rangiroa
Tiputa Pass features the highest concentration of sharks on Earth.Credit: iStock
Diving icon Jacques Cousteau called Rangiroa the most beautiful dive site on Earth; it’s also been dubbed the world’s biggest natural aquarium. The world’s second-biggest atoll is 300 kilometres north of Tahiti and is famous for its incredibly clear waters and diversity of marine life. One dive site, Tiputa Pass, has the highest concentration of sharks on Earth, while dolphins are known to accompany divers, and humpback whales and manta rays pass close by. Made up of 415 islets and sand bars, it’s home to 100 narrow passageways perfect for diving. See tahititourisme.com.au
Experience the world’s oldest art on a train trip across Australia
Listen to Dreamtime stories as you cruise down an ancient riverway in the outback looking for Indigenous art that’s thousands of years old. You’ll wind your way down the Katherine River, surrounded by towering ancient sandstone walls within Nitmiluk Gorge. You’re already on one of the world’s great train journeys from Adelaide to Darwin and back, a distance just shy of 3000 kilometres aboard The Ghan, but it’s the off-train experiences included which make this an unforgettable adventure. You’ll also get to hike among rare outback plant species within dramatic rock formations like Simpsons Gap, outside Alice Springs. Go even deeper by booking the four-day, three-night all-inclusive Ghan Expedition journey from April to October. See journeybeyondrail.com.au
Swim with whales in Tonga
Humpback whale off the coast of Tonga.Credit: iStock
Between July and October there’s no better place to swim with humpback whales, which come to Tonga for the warm, calm waters to mate, give birth and nurse their babies. They’re so plentiful many operators haven’t missed a whale swim with any group in more than a decade. Guests are taken by boat into the deep ocean. When whales are spotted, groups of four enter the water with masks and snorkels and fins for a close-up view of humpbacks in motion. There are whale swim boats and resorts across four of Tonga’s island groups. See humpbackswims.com
Tackle NZ’s most spectacular walking trail
Taranaki Falls, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. Credit: iStock
It’s one of the world’s most iconic day walks – and in a country full of stunning hikes, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is the most spectacular. Located half-way down the North Island, hike 19.4 kilometres across an active volcanic area in New Zealand’s oldest national park. Take a shuttle to the start of the walk and climb across terrain where you’ll look down on steaming vents, glacial valleys, old lava flows and crater lakes below some of the country’s tallest mountains. Do it in summer when the weather is more predictable. See tongarirocrossing.org.nz
Take a cargo ship to the Earth’s end
The Aranui is half cruise ship, half freighter.
Sail aboard one of the world’s last combined cargo/passenger expedition ships to the most isolated island archipelago on Earth. Take a 12-day cruise aboard the Aranui 5, 1400 kilometres north-east of Tahiti to The Marquesas, a group of 12 islands so remote the French government considered testing atom bombs there in the 1960s. While several have makeshift airports, the only real way to see these mountainous islands is aboard Aranui 5, the only real link to the outside world. You’ll explore wilderness as the crew unloads everything from toilet paper to cars. See aranui.com
Sail the world’s largest lagoon
The world’s best sailing destination, New Caledonia, is just a few hours away. There are hundreds of sailing options – from bareboat charters (sailing yourself) to luxury multi-day skippered superyacht charters – at the world’s largest lagoon, protected by the world’s second-biggest barrier reef. Home to 140 islands and more than 30 marine parks, the lagoon offers hundreds of safe anchorages among deep, clear blue water. See newcaledonia.travel/nz/lagoon/sailing
Get close to the world’s most accessible live volcano
Mount Yasur, Tanna Island, Vanuatu.
Take a tour from Port Vila, Vanuatu, aboard a small plane to stare into the crater of a live volcano on the island of Tanna. You’ll be escorted by 4WD to the rim of Mount Yasur to watch it erupt. As the sun sets, the colours of the lava flow increase in intensity and you’ll watch dry lava the size of small cars fly into the air around you. Stay overnight in a resort built into the earth (Rockwater Resort) and snorkel at dawn via a cave connected to the ocean. See airtaxivanuatu.com
Behold the Southern Lights
The Northern Lights have been a bucket list travel item for decades, but far fewer people have experienced the Southern Lights. The further south you go, the more chance you have of seeing these electrically charged particles – and it’s tricky to go much further south than New Zealand. Head to Lake Tekapo Observatory – part of the Dark Sky Reserve – the best viewing places for star-gazing. Or try Stewart Island, New Zealand’s southernmost populated island, or Mount Cook National Park (the higher you go, the better). June and July are best, and 2024 is when the solar cycle moves towards maximum. See darkskyproject.co.nz
Chase waterfalls in Samoa
With its green mountainous hinterland, there are few better places to see waterfalls than Samoa. Take a waterfall tour – do your own, or join a guided tour – and you’ll jump off, swim below, hike beside or just stare at more waterfalls than you can name in a week. Samoa’s most populated island, Upolu, (you’ll fly here) has the largest concentration of them. Mostly located just north of the southern coastline, it’s easy to find the best ones: you’ll see them from the road. Some you can swim in, so bring your bathers. See samoa.travel
Find World War II wrecks in the Solomon Islands
The cockpit of a World War II wreck, now resting on the ocean floor near Munda, Solomon Islands.Credit: iStock
With 992 islands, all surrounded by coral reefs, and with almost no development and tough fishing laws allowing marine life to flourish and a whole ocean bed of wrecked planes, ships and other vehicles from World War II, the Solomon Islands is one of the best places to dive in the world. Most dive sites are easily accessible, water visibility goes up to 90 metres and there’s small-scale dive resorts sprinkled throughout. There are also few other divers about. See padi.com
Swim in a blue hole
The blue holes on Espiritu Santo are breathtaking.
Nowhere you’ll ever swim is like Vanuatu’s blue holes. Surrounded by thick green forest, blue holes can be found all over the island of Espiritu Santo, an hour’s flight north of Port Vila. When it rains, the water from the mountains flows underground into limestone streams, where it’s filtered and becomes incandescent blue. One of nature’s rarest wonders, swim by yourselves in blue holes all over Espiritu Santo, paying a small entrance fee only for the three best-known sites (Matevulu, Nanda and Ri Ri). See vanuatu.travel/au
Sleep in a luxury over-water bungalow
Bora Bora magic.
Invented in Bora Bora 55 years ago, other countries and islands may now offer them (especially the Maldives), but nothing compares to sleeping in an overwater bungalow where the concept was derived. Built as the piece de resistance within resorts built on their own private island (motu) – just jump from your back deck into a French Polynesian lagoon. There is no more romantic accommodation available anywhere on the planet. Also consider Moorea, if you prefer to stick closer to Tahiti. See marriott.com
Experience the Pacific’s most romantic champagne breakfast
Take a 15-minute boat ride to your own uninhabited island for a champagne breakfast on a daybed looking across a protected marine reserve. Likuliku Lagoon Resort in Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands has a private lease over pristine Mociu Island. Walk to the highest point of the island for sunrise as staff arrange your breakfast. Then the island’s yours; you’ll be left with a walkie-talkie to radio in when you’re ready to leave. Lunches also available. See likulikulagoon.com
Ride the Otago Rail Trail
Rides don’t get more scenic... Otago Rail Trail.Credit: Suppled
One of the best things about New Zealand’s Otago Central Rail Trail is that in a landscape of soaring mountains and deep lakes, it’s almost completely dead flat. So this 150-kilometre trail through the South Island is perfect for all ages, and all levels of fitness. It’s also totally free – if you prefer to avoid a guided tour – and while biking is why you’re here, the trail is as much about wine tasting, gourmet food and historic lodges. Allow at least four days to take your time passing through historic towns, some formed during New Zealand’s 1860s Gold Rush. See otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz
Q+A
Ryan Thomas, My Holiday
I love Oceania because … it offers everything you could want from a holiday, right at your fingertips. There are plenty of adventures to be had in destinations like Queensland, Vanuatu and Samoa, while spots like Fiji and the Cook Islands provide the perfect setting for a “flop and drop” resort holiday.
For me, the hottest new bucket list destination in Oceania is … Vanuatu. It’s a little bit more off-the-beaten-path than other destinations in Oceania, but it’s packed with bucket list experiences, like ash boarding down the slopes of an active volcano, or canyoning through deep blue caves.
Ryan Thomas.
The one classic bucket list destination for Oceania is … Fiji. This absolute paradise is home to some of the world’s best resorts, plus it has plenty to do, including top-tier snorkelling and diving, relaxing spa treatments and fascinating cultural experiences. And of course, the genuine warmth and happiness of the local people can’t be beaten.
The one big issue for travellers when visiting Oceania is … knowing which destination to visit. While many of the islands in Oceania may appear similar at first glance, each destination has something unique to offer. Talk to a travel agent who knows all there is to know about Oceania and can help choose the best holiday destination for you, with bonus extras, based on your travel style and desires.
You can be a better traveller to Oceania by making sure that you … do your part for sustainable tourism. Bring reef-safe sunscreen, reduce your waste where possible and always be respectful of local customs and traditions.
My one big travel tip for Oceania is … make planning your trip easier by booking a holiday package.