RTW with emphasis on SP - priotitization?

Hi everyone

I'm planning a RTW trip in early 2011 with an emphasis on South Pacific and NZ / Australia.

I intend to fly from Europe through the US and onwards into the Pacific. I was wondering what the experienced ones could advice me in order to make a clever yet fulfilling journey across the biggest pond of them all.

My initial thoughts were to fly LA > Hawai > Fiji and then do some island hopping from there. Fly Fiji > New Zealand and perhaps staying there for a while, even find a job for a few months.

But there are more options in the SP, like French Polynesia, Samoa, Vanuatu, New Caledonia. I'd like to visit them all, but I don't want to overstretch. What would you guys recommend? If I try to visit two, or maybe three island clusters, which ones should it be? What would I be missing out a lot if I skipped it? And should I perhaps just skip Hawai and head directly into the SP? I'd like to keep it low budget, and who knows, even try to find a short term work at a bar or a hotel. Is that realistic in your opinion?

Big thanks in advance! Sam

The SP is an expensive region to fly around, so it certainly makes sense to visit as many island nations there as you can on a RTW ticket. The best deal might be Oneworld's Global Explorer, as it involves Lan Chile, Qantas and Air Pacific, allowing you to visit Easter Island, Tahiti, Fiji and maybe 2 more island countries served by Air Pacific or Qantas.

As Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu are fairly cheap to fly to from Fiji (by SP standards) you could also choose to buy separate tickets out of Fiji to these, and save the RTW stopovers to pricier destinations like NC or PNG.

You mentioned "low budget" - do note that French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu are among the more expensive SP destinations!
Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Solomons are the cheapest, though I did personally find Vanuatu and NC more rewarding than any of those.

I wouldn't worry too much about skipping Hawaii or cutting time short in Asia or North America if that is necessary to have longer in the SP, simply as those 2 continents can always be revisited later fairly cheaply on a simple RT ticket from Europe.
To get value for your money, it does make sense to prioritize AU, NZ, the SP and South America on a RTW ticket.

Thanks for the tip Laszlo.

Did you ever stay for an extended time in any of those locations, and perhaps got yourself a job for a period of time? Did you ever encounter RTW travelers doing that on your journey? Any thoughts on that?

I never worked in these parts.
It is common for RTW travellers to pick up jobs in AU and even NZ, but i never met one who did so in the Pacific islands.

It is fairly easy to get casual work in AU and NZ, but you usual need work permit since the places are flooded with UK/EU backpackers on working holiday visa.

I really liked Vanuatu for the culture side and didn't find it that expensive. For more holiday feel try the Cook Islands. For the full on experience, PNG is the place (the highlands and the Sepik river).

I support Laszlo's suggestion about use a RTW to get to central places and then get separate tickets to far-flung places (good deals can be found on the websites of the various Pacific airlines companies). Since flight schedules in the Pacific are a nightmare, the best way to plan Pacific travel is doing it backwards; check what the different airlines can offer and then put your itinerary together of what is possible.

Most Pacific countries are accessible from Fiji, which is something of a hub for the area (eg many international aid organisations, and the regional university have their headquarters there), so I would agree with the suggestion to use it as a base to fly to other islands. If you want a broad view of the Pacific and its culture, try at least one Polynesian country (eg Cooks, Samoa or Tonga) and one Melanesian (eg Solomon Islands or Vanuatu).
As far as work is concerned, you can get work in Australia or New Zealand if you are eligible for a working holiday visa.
The Pacific Islands countries do not allow foreigners to work unless they have a work permit (and these are only available to people with skills that can't be met locally).
There are simply not enough jobs like bar work for available locals, so they would not employ a foreigner.
Even if you did get a job, the local wage is very low (eg average weekly salary in Solomon islands is $US 50).

I'd spend two or three days in Hawaii. Why? It will make you really appreciate the South Pacific!

Fiji is a good choice, you can get to several places from there easily (but not the Cooks or Tahiti).

Forget working in the islands, you'll never get a work permit. And as said above, if you do get a job it would be for a few dollars an hour at the most. Maybe you can do some work at a hostel in exchange for a bed, that's usually the best you will find, and even that is hard to get.