Itinerary questions for low budget trip to south pacific, Fiji etc

hi there!
reading previous posts i understand that as a generalization the south pasific islands are an expensive destination.
but do you think that it is possible to find the low budget path somewhere?
including the Fiji islands or not.
my main interests are tribes/villages/trekking/nature/beaches!
if you could suggest anything feasible in terms of cost/accessibility/safety it would be a great help, so i can focus to specific destinations in my ongoing research!
many thanks
Nikos

The possibility of a low budget path depends on how low your budget is. For Fiji, you'll have to be thinking $US30 a day and working at it.

I had a similar decision to make and chose Fiji mainly because it was easiest to slot into my RTW ticket, so the cost of getting there was for all practical purposes zero.

Interisland travel is expensive, since flying is the only practical option. So I limited myself just to Fiji. In an ideal world I would have been richer and had more time, in which case Vanuatu would have been a high priority, and maybe via Solomons to P.N.G., although I might be getting too old for that kind of stuff ...

Fortunately, Fiji might be the cheapest island group anyway, and it is large and varied enough to have a lot of potential for exploring. Certainly ranks high as a hiking/trekking destination in S Pacific, another reason why Fiji appealed to me. I was there for 2 months and felt as though I only managed a look at 30% of what was possible.

'Safety' ought not be on your list of concerns, at least, not for Fiji.

One other comment about your interest in 'tribes'. Not sure what you mean by this, hopefully not a western stereotype of getting-back-to-nature, bones-in-their-nose setup. I saw enough of ethnic tourism in Thailand, and it is a superficial experience indeed. I was in direct contact with a genuinely different Fijian culture almost from the time of arrival, although it took some time to realize this. Different culture means a different mind set, and a visitor needs time to appreciate it. If you limit yourself to 'tribes' then you are likely going to miss the obvious.

I would agree with oldpro as Fiji being a good budget place to visit. If you can swing it budget wise you could look into heading from Fiji to Vanuatu and then on to New Caledonia, both of which have indigenous tribes(the ni-Vanuatu and Kanak) you might be interested in learning more about. Both also offer opportunities for treking, beaches and nature(the Mt. Yasser Volcano on Tanna is awesome). Depending on your route you could continue on to Australia from New Caledonia or head back to Fiji. Both Vanuatu and New Caledonia will be more expensive than Fiji but with some research you can find budget options.

Agree that Fiji is a good choice, though probably not for "tribes".
Traditional tribal life is better preserved in Vanuatu or PNG, which are much pricier though.

Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and perhaps the Solomons are cheapest countries in the region.
The first three are also linked to each other by reasonably cheap flights.

thanks guys, your info is very valuable to me, i'll check these places first.
also thanks for the substancial coverage of the chapters 'inter-island connections' and also 'tribes' which i'm very interested in.
certainly westerners have stereotypes when conducting different societies and we should have an open mind, and time of course, to understand them and appreciate what they have. our experience shouldn't just be a 2 hours tour for photos.
i'll keep watching this thread, so anybody who wants to contribute more in the subject is absolutely welcome to do so!

happy travels!

Check here, for PNG and Solomon Islands: http://www.eco-melanesia.8k.com/

Fiji is a fantastic budget location.

For backpacker travel / accommodations, check out: http://www.awesomefiji.com. Awesome Adventures have numerous options but, moreover, you can view many of the backpacking islands on their site. Alternatively, just google "budget Yasawa Island accommodations".

Botaira Island has a rocky beach and is tidal, but has fantastic snorkelling off of it. 3 days on this island is a good amount of time.

Mantaray Island is more of a party island. Pretty beach but sterile.

Oarsmans Bay Lodge is the last backpacking island in Yasawa chain of islands. It has a pristine non-tidal beach with a coral shelf on the left of the beach and a coral floor to the right of the beach. The main central beach area is all sand.. white pristine sand. The resort is owned and ran by local fijians. Nacula Island has a Fijian village on it and the chief resides there - Chief Ratu Apeli (sp?). This is a large island. You can hike, visit the fijian village, take a half day trip to the famous blue lagoon (of its namesake - the movie "The Blue Lagoon", visit Sawa-i-Lau caves - also featured in the movie.

Safe Landing Resort, also on Nacula Island is good. Not as nice as Oarsmans and the beach is not sheltered - so it can get windy / choppy during the change of seasons.

You can get a return ticket, 1 or 2 week / 1 month Yasawa Flyer (catamaran) pass to get you to/from the numerous islands. You get the Flyer by arriving in Nadi, taking a taxi (20 mins) to Denarau Marina (approx. F$25) where you purchase tix / take the Yasawa Flyer to the islands. The flyer leaves (from recollection) around 9.15am - 9.30am every morning and returns around 5.30pm every evening.

Happy travels
Schwabbie

One Kind of Fijian Tribe Here maybe not the one you wanted though (!)

I'd pick Fiji, as it's relatively cheap, has a lot of choices and places to visit.

But as to "tribes"??? Not in any way one might see that term used in a documentary. Most Fijians watch TV, drive car or pickups or motorbikes, etc, wear T-shirts, etc.

great info guys, thanks a lot. but it is a dissapointment that you cannot easily come across tribal life - it seems i have an idylic but outdated (by centuries i guess) perception of the place... then, people who live there try to cope with the modern way... why should it be only us?
anyway, fiji is the pick!

Gets back to a point I already made. I can sympathize with your interest in tribal life. However, if you focus too much on some idea about pre-industrial societies (or non/pre-western or whatever), you risk missing a great deal of what is still a genuinely different culture and, no less interesting from an anthropological perspective, still rooted in an older tradition. Visit local villages or island settlements. Sure, they have gas cooking and generators for electricity, and motorboats, and maybe a telephone line, and so on. You can't blame them for wanting to improve their lot in life by adopting a few modern conveniences. But in many cases this is all merely a material addition to their folk tradition, rituals, beliefs, taboos, etc. It's often psychological and for that reason not as easy to identify as a blatant stone age tribe, but it is still there.

definately agree to all your points, oldpro.
it's the way of life in the real world of today, that's what we can get...

I don't know about 'tribes' but if you want to get amongst a village in Fiji try Flying Fish Organic Village - its quite new, only been open since june/july 08 i think, and I visited there in November. You basically stay with the extended family which runs the joint (all profits go back to the village). They make you feel so at home and are happy to show you everything about the lives they lead. You stay in traditional bures and eat traditional fijian food - but beware its not luxury, showers were a cold hose basically and they had no power (which they made up for by serenading us at every meal withj beautiful song - we had a big jam altogether on our last night, with kava by lantern light). And you may be well outnumbered in terms of guests:family. But we made great friens, and saw another culture. Its cheap, and they also do a volunteer program which will get you cheap accommodation in exchange for a little help each day. I actually received a email from them last week pleading for volunteers to help them clean up the main local village since the storms, most of the families there lost their crops.

I couldn't recommend it more, if you want photos email me and i'd be happy to provide (ashamcneill at hotmail.com)

see http://www.fijiorganicvillage.com/village.html