The Fiji government has taken a firm stand on the legalities of getting married for visiting couples. For a while they were allowing resort wedding coordinators lodge paperwork but no longer. Couples have to go to the registry office on the mainland in person with original documentation (passports, birth certificates, divorce papers/death certificate if applicable). Denarau resorts arrange transfers to the office in Nadi and Coral Coast resorts to the office in Sigatoka.

The only time it becomes a hassle is if you are having an island wedding and flight times don’t match up with registry office hours and launch transfers. An early afternoon arrival should give time for both to avoid a night in Nadi before heading to the island. The registry office closes at 4pm Monday to Friday. While launch transfers back in from an island may only take an hour or so, there are only a few transfers each day so it is a waste of time and money to return from the island just to do the paperwork.

Couples also have to attend the registry office in person in the Cook Islands. In Vanuatu there’s no need to visit the registry office in person because we lodge copies of the documentation required before you arrive so all is ready to go on the Big Day.

Photo: Castaway Island couple

In the Cook Islands you’ll find some three pronged plugs (same as in Australia and New Zealand), mainly on air-conditioners and power tools. Others are two-prong so, if you require power, invest in an adapter (you can probably buy at the airport). Some resorts have 110v for electric shavers.

In Samoa – Electricity is 240 volt with 3 prong angular plugs (same as Australia and New Zealand).

In Fiji the current is also 240 volts and outlets take three-pins – (as in Australia and New Zealand). Leading hotels and resorts have universal outlets for 240v or 110v appliances, or 110v adapters. Some resorts generate their own electricity and if they kick in and out, bedside digital clocks will need resetting. As nice as ‘island time’ is, it doesn’t apply to missing a flight!

In Vanuatu it is 220-280 volts AC with mainly three-point plugs in hotels (same as Australia & New Zealand). Some places, built by the French, take European two point plugs. If resorts have these, they will have adapters at reception. Adapters can also be bought at Fung Kuei (airport end of town).

Photo: Fung Kuei in Vanuatu from Trip Advisor

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