IOSP - 16 Nights - Cairns to Port Vila

Cairns is a Far North Queensland city located on the northeast coast of Australia. This laid-back city is just over a 2 hour flight from Brisbane, Queensland’s state capital. With a backdrop of rainforest mountains, Cairns is known to be the gateway of 2 iconic Australian sites, The Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest. Read more about Cairns, Australia

Samarai is a small island (800m by 400m) in the China Straits, just three kilometres from the mainland, off the SE tip of the Bird’s Tail Peninsula of New Guinea. Milne Bay lies a few kilometres to the north. The island is part of the Samarai Islands of the Louisiade Archipelago. Read more about Samarai Island, Papua New Guinea

Louisiade Archipelago consists of ten larger volcanic islands and almost a hundred smaller coral islands. It lies 200 km to the SE of Papua New Guinea. Read more about Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

Louisiade Archipelago consists of ten larger volcanic islands and almost a hundred smaller coral islands. It lies 200 km to the SE of Papua New Guinea. Read more about Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

The Laughlan Islands form an archipelago of several low-lying coral islands situated off Milne Bay, on the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea. They comprise Wabola and Bodaluna Islands. In this remote corner of Papua New Guinea you will see, interestingly, sea-going canoes in various stages of construction as traditional canoe building is a specialty here. Read more about Laughlan Islands, Papua New Guinea

Gizo is the capital of the Western Province in the Solomon Islands, situated on Ghizo Island, approximately 380 km WNW of the capital Honiara, and is the second largest town in the country. According to local stories the area had a history of head-hunting, so nearby tribes took the unusual step of joining together to obliterate the Gizo tribe. As a result, the land became state-owned and prospered as an administrative and business centre. Read more about Gizo, Solomon Islands

Marovo Lagoon is located in the New Georgia Islands of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, just north of Vangunu Island and south of New Georgia. It is the largest saltwater lagoon in the world, containing many islands, some of which are inhabited. The people live mainly by subsistence agriculture and fishing, and speak the Marovo language. Read more about Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands

Cristóbal lies at the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. It is part of the province of Colón, a port city at the entrance to Limon Bay, at the Atlantic (Caribbean) entrance of the canal. (Interestingly, Cristóbal Colón is the Spanish translation for Christopher Columbus.) The port, Old Cristóbal, was first built by the Panama Railroad Company in the 1850s, and dredged material became landfill for the present Cristóbal. Read more about Cristobal, Panama

Nendo is the largest, and most important of the Santa Cruz Islands, located in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. The island is also known as Santa Cruz, a name "Santa Cruz" given to the island in 1595 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who unsuccessfully tried to start a colony there. With a population of 553 inhabitants Lata is the largest town on the island and is the provincial capital of the province which has a population of about 20,000 people. Read more about Nendo 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

Port Vila, also known as “Vila”, is the capital and the main hub of Vanuatu. Port Vila is located on the island of Efate. There are over 100 indigenous languages spoken in Vanuatu however Port Vila’s main language is Bislama. Read more about Port Vila, Vanuatu