Currency and Visas in south pacific islands

[alastair_crow]

I am considering spending some time in the next year travelling around some of the south pacific, spending time on islands in micronesia and french polynesia hopefully as well as fiji and Samoa. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the system with Visas and also what currency would be the best to take as they all seem to have their own currency, but I don\\\'t know whether I\\\'d have to take different currency for each place. Help...

[Buenchico]

Visa requirements (for UK passport holders), together with a great deal more information for every country in the world, can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/

Chris

[jno]

yes, you'll need local currency, though you might find some tourist places that will take dollars. If you're in Rarotonga, it has a $3 note - very unusual.

[Memore]

I went to Rarotonga in1994 it was fantastic and had a triangle coin at that time as well - don't recall needing a visa as a UK Passport holder but you did have to pay a tax to leave which wasn't that expensive I think at the airport- I remember being a back packer at the time that Rarotonga was quite expensive as a lot of stuff was imported from NZ but maybe that was because I was on a very tight budget and had been away a long time and that this was near the end of my trip - Tahiti was very expensive I remember that!

I would still love to go back have a fantastic time

[jno]

that's right, Memore, I'd forgotten how expensive Tahiti is.

I also remember a Rarotonga coin that had a statue of a god on one side who was extremely well endowed. Apparently the Queen was very doubtful about having her picture on the other side!