Despite it being the rainy season, Wynne Gray got the most out his beachfront escape.

Polynesian tattoos are a popular souvenir for tourists to Papeete, writes Sophie Bond.

Dan Ahwa meets a village celebrity who is keeping an ancient Samoan art alive.

Spending time at a tumunu is a great way to meet Atiu locals, writes Jim Eagles.

Scott Kara and his wife enjoy a relaxing Fiji holiday, even with two little ones in tow.

A New Caledonian island offers a rustic, unspoilt escape, discovers Nikki Birrell.

The singing of whales as they gather in the warm Pacific waters to calve is so powerful you can feel its vibrations in the water if you go swimming with them.

Jim Eagles has a spiritual experience listening to the mournful melody of a humpback whale.

People have been sheltering in Tau's caves for centuries, writes Jim Eagles.

Sheriden Rhodes samples some of the delights on offer in the 'spa capital of the South Pacific'.

Jim Eagles explores the island of Atiu's growing coffee industry.

This remote cluster of low-lying islands sits off the southern tip of Vanuatu's second-largest island - Malekula. The people of the Maskelyne Islands still get around in wooden dugout outrigger canoes and live much as they have for centuries.

On a remote island in Vanuatu, Tessa Chrisp is won over by the locals' modest way of life and extraordinary warmth and humour.

Graeme Lay discovers the remarkable life of the travellers who want to visit every country in the world.

Concerted conservation efforts have led to the re-establishment of kura - a bird once common in the Southern Cook Islands - on the island of Atiu. The colourful lorikeet was hunted to extinction in the Cooks 200 years ago, but a population survived in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia and in 2007, 27 of those birds were gifted back to the Cook Islands.

Jim Eagles heads into the bush with the birdman of Atiu to see some of the Cook Islands' avian success stories.

Wild weather continues to batter Fiji's main island of Viti Levu as two people are confirmed dead.

Phil Parker keeps a running total - in Kiwi dollars - of a fun-packed family trip to Fiji.

Robert Oliver has changed perceptions of the cuisines of the islands with the food now being given its due credit.

Frank Liew savours the pain and the pleasure of competing in the Honolulu Marathon.