New Zealanders believe there's gold in them there mudflats, Australia has too much wine, Fiji's diplomatic relations with Wellington get resolved on the rugby pitch.

Australia's straight-talking foreign minister, election watch in Vanuatu, and the soft power of Kiwi sport.

Eurozone citizens head to Australia, schools get tough on pupils in Micronesia, and the authorities investigate dolphin smuggling in the Solomon Islands.

A round-up of news from the Pacific islands, plus the election in Palau and New Zealand's hunt for diplomats.

The king of Tonga is our dapper Style Leader, Australia is a wise old goat, and New Zealand strips its prisoners of the right to vote and smoke.

Canberra celebrates its centenary, New Zealand gets building and Tonga gets broadcasting (in Chinese).

Tuvalu's internet cash-in, NZ reviews its carbon-trading scheme, and Fiji's growing isolationism.

Auckland's ambitious transport plans and why Hobart has its eyes on Sydney's defunct monorail.

Is Australia the new South Korea? Why the Polynesians want their own passport, Pacific islanders bail out of the atolls and how Aussie men rate as good partners.

Sydney's waterless car wash and America's "Year of the Pacific".

Australians get the hump, Fiji loses its midwives and Aussie males get a bad reputation.

The latest from the Pacific islands, including a sanitation crisis in Tuvalu and the phasing of Vanuatu's handwritten passport.

Issues high on the agenda in Australia, including defence and security, plus the big elections coming up and contenders to watch.

Why did the Samoan cross the road? (It’s all in the name of regional harmony), Australia and New Zealand drop their guards and rock’n’roll rescues aboriginal languages.

A mining town in Queensland goes solar, Rugby Union eyes up Asia, plus Sydney isn't holding its breath over new metro plans.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark's wardrobe decoded. And adopt a sheep.

The rebranding benefits of geographical name changes are weighed up in South Australia, plans to harvest storm water for consumption are questioned in the New South Wales city of Orange, and Tokelau announces plans to…

Australian PM Julia Gillard finds fashion and New Zealand discovers its very own species of white shark.

The foreign land ownership debate in New Zealand, Cuba's bid to send doctors Oceania-way and Tonga finally gets connected to the rest of the world.