This long skinny island is only 10 km from shore to shore at the widest spot, but is nearly 350 km long. It was also occupied by the Japanese during WWII, but not to the extent that New Britain was. There are atleast 20 different languages spoken on New Ireland. The largest gold mine in the southern hemisphere is located on Lihir Island... just off shore of New Ireland. Tabar Island has a new gold mining operation as well. New Ireland is home to the somewhat famous "Shark Callers". Shark Callers have the ability to draw sharks to them with their voice or with coconut rattles. They then snare the shark with a noose.

New Ireland is very similar to Manus geologically speaking, except that the major islands off the east and north coast are all igneous intrusions. The soils differ and range from good in some places and abysmal in others. New Britain is far more fertile than New Ireland because of the volcanic activity on the island.