Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - WWII Battlefield Tours

We're going to be living in Brisbane for 6+ months and I'm interested in taking some tour time to the major pacific battlefields - Guadalcanal, Tarawa/Bieto, etc.

Does anyone have experience with a reputable tour group? I"ve found a bunch of stuff on the internet, but, well....

The problem is political instability in the south pacific.Guadacanal is in the Solomon Islands.Tourism has collapsed there along with the political problems.
Niugini is also not the most stable place but probably will be the easiest to get to and will have tours.There is great interest now in australia particularly with the Kokoda track.That however is 5-7 days of hard slog through mud.
Tarawa,guam etc are further from australia with limited travel opportunities from Oz so are quite expensive to get to.
Probably best to wait until you get to Brisbane.There are companies that specialise in the South Pacific but it is usually sun,surf and booze tours.

I've been to fascinating above ground sites in Guam and nearby Saipan where fighting was intense. (And of course is from where Enola Gay took off from, on Tinian.)

The diving in that region of WW2 wrecks is unsurpassed.

CO flies Cairns to Guam and fares are often VERY cheap.

There is a wealth of WW2 material in AUSTRALIA. I went to a very interesting Museum in Broome WA last year.

The area from Broome to Darwin was bombed by the Japs a LOT more heavily than most Aussies realise. The extend of it was heavily censored during the war.

The Adelaide River Cemetery near Katherine NT has a daily chart of number of incoming Jap planes and allied planes that flew to engage them, and causalities from both sides. Was an eye opener for me.

Adelaide River is the site of the only Australian war cemetery on Australian soil. There are 432 servicemen and 63 civilians buried there, all of whom died as a result of Japanese bombing raids, buried in the cemetery.

Proportionately this is about 3 or 4 times higher than the US military death toll at Pearl Harbour, where the death toll reached 2,403, along with 68 civilians.

Sorry, CO means Continental to me... :-)

Sorry, CO means Continental to me... :-)Which is correct; it is the same Continental airlines that still island hops in Micronesia and flies to Cairns via Guam. Not the most pleasant way to get from US to Australia, but possible and maybe the most scenic.

Sorry, CO means Continental to me... :-)

Give that man a ceegar. ;)

FWIW I was a top level elite on Continental for many years and did the OZ - Guam flights dozens of times.

Guam is a cr*phole IMHO, but Saipan is rather interesting, and only a 20 minute flight away, and CO would allow it on an award ticket I imagine.

CO still does (AFAIK) the island-hopping "milk run" between GUM-HNL a couple times a week and that is a NOT to be missed experience let me tell ya!

Here is one of those island-hopper trips (http://www.glenstephens.com/safari.htm) from 10 years back.

See if you can get on that flight from HNL - often you can as biz guys hate it as it takes all day! Check with CO to see what days of the weeks they do it on.

Barrier Reef-BNEis serviced AFAIK by both Virgin Blue and Qantas/Jetstar so cost is not too bad at all being in the same state.

Ah.

I'm starting out from Brisbane - is a US flag carrier the best way to go?

I'd believe it, but it seems amazing - Betio is something like 400 yards long - where do they put a real runway?