Whale watching in Tonga goes extreme when Jane Jeffries hops in with the cetaceans.

Paul Rush meets creatures both noble and dangerous in waters of astonishing clarity.

Fijian nationals will be eligible to register for a residency ballot under the Pacific Access Category for the first time since the military coup in 2006.

Kim Palsenbarg revisits a past hobby and is entranced to find the world beneath the waves as welcoming as ever.

Laura Hutchins cherishes the easy-going pace of Cook Island life because she knows when she's home it'll be what she misses the most.

A week on from Cyclone Pam some sense of normality has returned - at least in the capital, Port Vila.

A Red Cross leader labelled Polyfest 'cold and mean-spirited' after it initially refused to let the charity collect at the event for Pacific victims of Cyclone Pam.

It was a tale of two villages. In one, rice, food and water provided by aid agencies, in another, nothing at all.

The deputy chairman of Vanuatu's natural disaster committee has launched a stinging attack on NGOs in the cyclone-struck nation.

There are fears tuna are teetering on the edge of survival as an excess of boats fight over a decreasing number of fish.

New Zealand aid worker Andrew Finlay takes Kirsty Johnston around the island of Tanna, where the destruction is wholesale.

The threat of disease from dirty water has affected "absolutely everybody" in Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Pam.

The first aid planes arrived to find scenes of "utter destruction" on the Vanuatu island of Tanna, where residents are in desperate need of emergency supplies.

Hanging up the backpack has converted Stuart Condie to the feared 'package' holiday and he couldn't be happier.

Families in Vanuatu have returned to their homes only to find the nightmare of Cyclone Pam isn't over.

Cyclone-torn Vanuatu is in desperate need of food, clothing, medicine and basic shelter - and a full recovery operation could cost hundreds of millions.

Kiwi Kylie Steel was in Port Vila when the cyclone struck. After the cyclone passed she went in search of friends. Here's her story.

Dozens are feared dead on Vanuatu and up to 10,000 are homeless in the wake of Cyclone Pam.

New Zealanders in Vanuatu have been drafted in to help at the capital's main hospital after it was ravaged by Cyclone Pam.

The GCSB not only spies on the Solomon Islands using its Waihopai satellite interception base - it also had a secret listening post inside the country, according to documents provided by the United States National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snow

NZ spies targeted the emails and other electronic communications of the aides and confidants of the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, a top-secret document says.

At least eight people are confirmed dead in Vanuatu, and the death toll is likely to rise once communications are restored with outlying islands.

Many residents in Vanuatu were forced to hunker down for a second night in emergency shelters after venturing out yesterday to find their homes damaged or blown away, aid workers say.

Why did the GCSB intercept emails to and from Solomon Island officials? Nicky Hager and Ryan Gallagher report.