CONNECT WITH REMOTE ISLANDERS

Papua New Guinea is one of the last frontiers on earth – still impenetrable in parts and home to hundreds of cultural groups with their own languages and identities. The 10-night Adventures in Paradise voyages run by Western Australiabased expedition outfit True North (truenorth.com.au) give you special entrée to native communities in the Bismarck Sea and Louisiade Archipelago, travelling aboard an 18-cabin cruiser. True North has plied this route since 2005 and, unlike more recent cruiseship arrivals, it has longstanding relationships with the villagers. There’s always a hearty welcome, not least because voyages come laden with educational supplies and each year the top pupils are treated to a trip on the company’s chopper.

Once you’ve met the locals, there are opportunities to snorkel or go diving at psychedelic reefs so bountiful and remote that science hasn’t yet catalogued all their species. You can explore jungle-lined fjords, fly over a smouldering volcano or toast the sunset from a deserted cay.

Each dawn ushers in a new island, coastal village and uplifting sing-sing cultural show where entire communities don elaborate costumes – feathered headdresses, ropes of shell jewellery, strips of tapa cloth – to sing and dance. Children grab strangers’ hands and lead them on village tours, introducing them to family and teachers, or coax them into the warm sea for a swim. Never refuse that invitation. There are few more joyful moments in life than splashing about in the South Pacific with these ecstatic kids that use your arms, shoulders and head for diving boards.