Darwin to Lautoka

The new Darwin cruise ship terminal at Fort Hill Wharf is adjacent to the convention centre, only one kilometre from Darwin’s CBD. Modern amenities, hotels and parking are there, plus a mini-market with beautiful local productions – Aboriginal art and crafts, diamonds and opals, and eateries, distinctive of the Top End. Darwin is a home port for the small luxury vessels Coral Princess and Coral Discoverer that explore the Kimberley coast to Broome. Read more about Darwin, Australia

Read more about Biak, Papua New Guinea

Read more about Ali Island, Papua New Guinea

Madang is the capital of Madang Province and a port on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was settled by Germans in the 19th C, then under Australian administration from 1919, and occupied by Japanese 1942-1944 when the town was virtually wiped out. Today its population of 24,000 includes many expatriates, and the city is the base for many NGOs and business branches. Read more about Madang, Papua New Guinea

The Vitu Islands are located in the Bismarck Sea north of New Britain, a part of Papua New Guinea in the SW Pacific. The islands are volcanic ocean peaks arising from very deep water and fringed with reefs, hence not atolls. Formerly called the French Islands, they are also known as the Witu Islands. Read more about Vitu Islands, Papua New Guinea

Rabaul is a town on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. A busy commercial centre, it is situated on Simpson Harbour, a sheltered inlet of Blanche Bay. Almost the entire old town of Rabaul is buried under volcanic ash, the result of a volcanic eruption in 1994, and one is in awe of the scenery, which resembles an alien prehistoric landscape. Read more about Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Kennedy Island (colloquially known as Plum Pudding Island, though the correct local name is Kasolo Island) is an island in the Solomon Islands. It was named after John F. Kennedy. Read more about Kennedy Island, Solomon Islands

Santa Ana Island is a raised coral atoll in the Makira-Ulawa Province of the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea. Port Mary, situated on a small bay of the same name on the SW of the island, is the main town. Each cruise ship Zodiac that arrives at the beach landing is greeted by a fierce “welcoming committee”, composed of local men, masked and mud-smeared, dressed in warrior costumes and brandishing spears, shields, and machetes. Read more about Santa Ana Island, Solomon Islands

Champagne Bay is located to the NE of the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu (New Hebrides until 1980), an island nation located in the South Pacific. The archipelago of Vanuatu lies at the centre of the other island groups Fiji, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation; and its highest peak is Mt Tabwemasana at 1879m. Read more about Champagne Bay, Vanuatu

Ambrym is an island in the archipelago of Vanuatu (formerly known as the New Hebrides) in the South Pacific. It remains volcanically active, with two volcanic cones Benbow and Marum that still rumble away, and smaller vents and fractures that ooze steam and lava. The centre of the island is dominated by a massive 1900 year old 12 km diameter desert-like caldera that hosts multiple craters. Read more about Ambrym Island, Vanuatu

Lautoka is situated on the western side of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji, and just 20 km north of Nadi. The Fiji archipelago lies just to the western side of the International Date Line. Lautoka is Fiji's second largest city. Read more about Lautoka, Fiji