Travelling the South Pacific

Hi there,

I'm planning on travelling the South Pacific Islands next year in June. I have realised that it is quite expensive to travel between each island. I have saved $10,000 and wanted to know whether this will be enough for 3-6 months of travelling through New Zealand, Tahiti, Raratonga, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia and Vanuatu?
I have already budgeted for flights between each island and will have around $7,000 for accommodation, activities, transport, food etc. Can i travel these islands on a budget?
Thanks in advance for your advice :)

Hi and welcome to Thorn Tree @CaitlynDickens.

I've just moved your post over to our South Pacific branch so that some of our helpful regulars can give you an idea of costs in the region.

All the best with your planning.

Cosima1

Hi Caitlyn,
There is obviously no black and white answer whether your budget will be enough for the trip or not. Since you are not sure how long you will be travelling it will definitely make a huge difference if you have 7,000$ for 3 months rather than for 6 months.
But, here are some things I hope I can help you out:
New Zealand - Even though NZ is not a very cheap place to travel, the budget travel infrastructure is amazing. You can easily find cheap hostels (or also couchsurfing), supermarkets etc.
Rarotonga - Is also doable on a low budget. You can find some affordable hostels at price levels similar to NZ. Water and food is expensive. The island is to to be explored by yourself as you can rent a motorbike for a good price or just hike around the island. If you plan on traveling to other islands in the Cook Islands, check the flight prices first, they are very high.
Tonga - More affordable than the Cook Islands. Inter Island flights are expensive. It's easy to do sidetrips to e.g. Eua. Food is not too expensive.
Vanuatu - Prices for food and accomodation are comparable to Tonga. You will most likely fly into Port Vila and you will need an onward flight to (most likely) Tanna to see the vulcanoes. Those flights are expensive. Last year, I decided to visit Ambrym (island) instead of Tanna. The island has two vulcanoes and you will be able to look into the crater. Flights to Ulei or Craig Cove are much cheaper from Port Vila. You will have to pay for the tour to the vulcanoes. Don't expect any kind of infrastructure on Ambrym. All the tourists go to Tanna and there is nothing in Ambrym. Really nothing. No bottled water or similar Western ameinities.

I have never been to the other places but I guess that Tahiti would be the one problem in your itinierary that will eat through your wallet. Hotels are extremely expensive. And the flights might be too, depending on where you are flying to the South Pacific from.
Fiji should be the cheapest place and you may be transiting through anyways as Nadi is one of the busier airports in the region.

The tldr version: Food and drinks and basically anything imported is expensive. Toursitic tours are hard to afford. Try renting motor scooters and explore the places by yourself. Many islands have places for locals to get filtered water for free. It's good to drink and you will safe 10-20$ per day. Flights tend to get very expensive.

I don't know what home country you are from but whenever you think about air travel in the South Pacific its worth thinking about airline miles. So try to figure out if there are any airline credit cards, that give huge signup bonuses that you could maybe use. You will finds loads of information on google.

I wish you good luck on your trip.

I have been to Easter Island, French Polynesia twice ( 4 archipelago's of FP, society, tuamotus, marquesas and gambier ), fiji, vanuatu, cook islands and lord howe islands and even when you do it cheap 2 months are the max. with your budget i guess. French Polynesia was the most beautiful but the most expensive

Your Q is very similar to the one right under it, so much of my reply to that one apllies here, too.

If you want your budget to stretch longer, consider droppimg very expensive French Polynesia and also the Cooks where expensive flights are almost the only way to get around. Plus this part of the region is poorly connected to the other Pacific islands you want to visit.

Once over in the SW Pacific, things are cheaper.
Countries there are connected to each other and/or to Fiji by shorter and cheaper flights, and within each country, boats offer a cheaper alternative way to move between islands.

General travel costs are also lower than in French Polynesia, though unlike Johnny, I found Vanuatu considerably pricier than Tonga, Samoa or Fiji. In New Caledonia, camping, self-catering and buses on Grande Terre provide a budget travel alternative in what could otherwise be an expensive destination.

NZ$10 000 would last us about 2 weeks.
Below are the costs for 8 nights at Viwa and our cost already for 8 nights at Treasure Island in Feb 16.
Viwa Oct 15 Air NZ airfare $3322.16 Raffles, Pacific Island Air, Viwa $4422.38 Novotel Ak$228.65 Novotel $14.28, Misc $60.73, Raffles $23.62, Viwa $1168.69 Total $9240.51
Treasure Island Feb 16 Airfare $3037.24 Island Air $728Treasure $1707 Fees $15.40 Novotel AK $245.65 $ 259 Total $5992.29

It totally depends on how you travel and where you stay. i am a budget traveller and spend a lot of time travelling NZ by campervan ( and sometimes staying in hostels or camp grounds)I normally budget $150 a week but that is because I own my campervan and do a lot of freedom camping and DOC campsites - if you rented a car and stayed at hostels ( in dorms) your costs would be around the $600 nz a week .
I spend about two months a year over winter in the warmer south pacific. I spend about $300 nz a week in Samoa - can go cheaper but I like my own room / fale/ bure and places where there are other travellers to talk to. In Fiji it helps if you are two people - they do mid budget well ( around 100fjd a night) otherwise you have to pay that on your own or share a dorm ( if you are happy doing that costs are way lower) In Fiji I spent about $500 NZ aweek sharing a twin room and catching buses, eating local.Rarotonga was more expensive, so I cooked for myself a lot, but was very small (32 klms) so easy to get around. I always had a single in a hostel ( about 40-60 NZd a night) but dorms were cheaper.- ended up spending $500 nz a week total. These costs include my accommodation,transport, food and drink. I normally spend $4000 during my 2 month visit where ever I am but on some islands that is easier than others and yes I am missing out on some things but I enjoy the warm Pacific winters and thats my budget
With all the islands its the cost of going to the outer islands,staying at resorts and eating imported food that will make things expensive. I tend to stick to the main islands unless I can take a local ferry,( I eat and travel like a local) you may want to see everything which will put the costs up alot and it always depends on what standard of travel you want.
I have only been to Tahiti once and realised I couldnt survive there on my budget so havent been back to the French part of the Pacific, if you really want to visit the more expensive places I would recommend limiting your length of visit to the expensive places and extend your stay to Samoa, and Fiji

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