Smoking is treated with more acceptance throughout The Pacific than it is in Australia and New Zealand but attitudes are starting to change a bit with designated no smoking areas in many resorts and restaurants. You may even see health warnings on cigarette packets. On the other hand, in Fiji, you may even come across cigarette advertising.

Samoa is taking a healthy approach to smoking with billboards advertising its shortcomings. Having said that, bars have ashtrays on the tables for patrons. But if your room has an ashtray in it, please do the next guests a favour and use it on your balcony.

In Vanuatu they have caught up with health warnings on cigarette packets, and in the three official languages, so a pack may come with the warning in English that ‘smoking causes heart disease’, and, in French, that ‘l’usage du tabac est une cause importante de cardiopathie’ and, in Bislama, that ‘ sigaret i kosem sik blong hat’ (literally, ‘cigarette causes sick belong heart’).

Geckos are little, harmless lizards with adhesive pads on their toes. Ohhhh, Have you ever seen a cuter little foot?!

Geckos are mostly nocturnal, they wander the walls and ceilings, cack-cacking, mating and keeping the mosquito population down. Their name actually comes from the chirping/clicking sound they make when socialising or threatened. They have excellent eyesight and reflexes.

Repeat – they are harmless!

I’m repeating that because of a resort in Fiji that told me they had quite a few American tourists complaining that they had baby crocodiles in their room. This resort shall remain nameless but they actually have a wing they try to keep gecko free for these types of guests.

I actually like the little critters – although one made a nest in my computer in Vanuatu, which resulted in a real mess. I needed a new computer anyway.

If you pick one up (did I mention that they are harmless?) and the tail comes off, you won’t have hurt it, that’s a defence mechanism design.

Photo: Wikipedia on Geckos

The coconut palm has to be the world’s most versatile tree. In the tropics, not a part of the tree is wasted. It provides shade and shelter, the trunk can be fashioned into bowls or part of an outrigger canoe, the leaves can be woven into baskets, the husk turned into fibre and the leaves matted together for roofing.

And, of course, the flesh of the coconut is nutritious, the juice is a great thirst quencher and, once you know how, the trees are easy to climb to access the fruit. There are actually two liquids in a coconut – the fresh coconut juice from the green coconut (which is so pure you can use it as a saline drip in an emergency!) and coconut milk, which is extracted from the flesh of mature coconuts. The jewel of the coconut tree is the heart of the palm. This is a delicacy and ‘heart of palm salad’ is known as millionaire’s salad because you have to kill the tree to get to the heart.

In some Cook Island wedding ceremonies, couples seal their vows with the planting of small coconut palms (otu). The symbolism is that while the coconut palm matures and grows stronger, so too will the relationship.

There is a saying referring to ‘island time’ in the Pacific – “the coconut will fall when it is ripe”… Oh! And it is a good idea to check for any ripe hovering ones above before lying down for a sleep in the shade.

Photo: Coconut Palm at Erakor Island Resort in Vanuatu