Swaying palm trees, sandy beaches and blue lagoons are the stereotypes that figure in our imaginations when we hear the words “South Pacific” (damn that musical). But our Bindu guides will take you behind the cliches and the postcard scenery and show you the islands of the South Pacific as you’ve never seen them before. Sure, the beaches and palm trees will still figure in our calculations…but we’ll also bring you the culture, the cuisine and the best information to make your travels there run smoothly.

The main island nations that we’ll be concentrating on belong to Melanesia, Micronesia or Polynesia.

Melanesia is made up of Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and a number of smaller islands. Polynesia takes in the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti (in French Polynesia) and a number of smaller islands including Tuvalu (once called the Ellice Islands),which is half way between Australia and Hawaii. And New Zealand, of course.

The Federated States of Micronesia is a collection of 607 islands, some of them tiny. The FSM is made up of four island states: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, each with its own language and culture. In addition are the nearby larger island nations of Palau and Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands.

We’ll also be including Australia’s more far-flung island territories – Norfolk, Lord Howe, Pitcairn and Christmas Island – as well as northern neighbour Papua New Guinea, and to the east, the French territory of New Caledonia.

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  Photo by Lee Mylne