May 27, 2016
Flight: Nadi, Fiji (NAN) to Yeren, Nauru (INU); Nauru Airlines 737 Econ
Hotel: Hotel Menen; Nauru
Didn't get a lot of sleep before it was time to head to the airport again. Caught a cab at 2:45 AM and said '12 FJD?' he agreed but I've never heard anyone ..... and moan about a fare more than this guy. All the way to the airport it was 'I had no dinner', 'tourists pay 20 dollars', 'this isn't my car', 'my house was destroyed in a cyclone', finally he outright asked for more money 'you give me big tip'. All for a short 5 kms drive. I only had about 15FJD left, mostly in coins anyway, so dumped them in his hands when we arrived at the airport.
Checkin was open already, but a short line. From other flights in the South Pacific I imagined huge boxes and chaos but it actually went very smoothly. I soon had my boarding pass for my final country, #197 Nauru! I knew the plane was here already as I'd seen it on Monday. Went through immigration to check out the Priority Pass lounge, but it was closed for renovation. The departures area had been renovated in the two years since I was here, much brighter and cleaner. I grabbed a coffee and sandwich at Burger King and sat out to wait. Cassie showed up a bit later and we sat talking until it was time to board, which was a bit late.
The flight wasn't super full and I had an empty seat beside me. Cassie ended up in a business class seat. There was a gorgeous sunrise through the clouds as we approached Nauru. We landed about 8:30, 25 minutes late. Disembarked via stairs and I was standing in my final country #197! Hard to believe I had finally made it! Cassie got off the plane as well to get her passport stamp although she was continuing onto Majuro. The other Nauru Airlines plane from Brisbane was also here. A bit warm already this morning, Nauru is just below the equator and is pretty toasty year round. I gave Cassie a high five as we were waiting in line for immigration. I hadn't yet received my fixed entry permit from the consulate (They'd resent it with a fixed passport number but still got my name wrong!). At least they had the entry permit number and were able to issue me a visa. Since I was only there for two days and technically in transit, they did not charge me for the visa!
Nauru Airlines Y NAN-INU
I got my bags then went to look for the hotel shuttle. I had emailed them the night before and they said they would be waiting... but didn't see anyone. After waiting 30 minutes I had someone call the hotel and they came and picked me up. The Menen hotel was a few minutes drive from the airport, on the southeast side of the island. It looked pretty run down and they cheaped out with single-ply toilet paper. I was pretty exhausted after a week of nonstop travel so I mainly just hung around the hotel area all day. There wasn't any water in the pool and there wasn't much of a beach to speak of either. There were sharp coral pinnacles all along the water to the fringing reef. I walked down a bit to a beach where there was a woman sunbathing.
Arriving into Nauru
Hotel Menen
Coral Pinnacles
For lunch I walked out of the hotel grounds to a Chinese place across the street. Restaurants in Nauru are really basic, so don't expect too much. I wanted to go into town and asked about the hotel car to get postcards, they wanted 10AUD. I said I'd come back later, but when I came back later that afternoon the driver had already left, oops. I wanted to walk around the island (about 11 miles total), but it was quite warm and little shade. So I enjoyed the A/C in my room until about 5PM.
I decided to walk to the other side of the island to checkout The Bay restaurant, supposedly one of the best on the island. It wasn't on any of my maps though but I figured it would be in the main town, a 3-mile walk. It was late afternoon but still a longish hot walk. I passed by other tiny restaurants and some local kids playing rugby. The airport runway takes up most of the southern coast, and it seemed to take forever to walk from one end to the other. I made it just in time for sunset, catching the last light on the cantilevers. Nauru's main economy historically was phosphate rock, they had some of the purest in the world and had one of the highest GDP per capita in the 1970s and 1980s. The phosphate became harder to extract though and their fortunes declined. There's still lots of rusting infrastructure from the mining. Now Australia pays them to keep refugees, a bit controversial. There are now several camps in the interior of the island that house people from Somalia, Afghanistan, etc. that have tried to make it to Australia.
Local kids
Phosphate mining
I asked about the restaurant, only to find it was on the other side of the island nearer my hotel! Doh, that meant for a long walk back. I grabbed some water at the supermarket and started the walk back to the hotel. Luckily as I was leaving town, a local offered me a lift and took me all the way to the restaurant. The Bay restaurant is in Anibare and was busy with expat Aussie workers. I ordered the sashimi plate and lamb stew. The sashimi was a huge plate of tuna for 14AUD, an amazing deal and really a meal in itself. The lamb stew was also delicious but by then was full. I walked back the ~3/4 mile to the hotel, by now it was pitch dark with no streetlights so had to use the screen of my phone to make sure I didn't step in a hole or something!
Tuna Sashimi
They like their music loud in Nauru apparently as the hotel was blaring when I returned. Didn't seem to be anyone in the bar though.
May 28, 2016
Hotel: Hotel Menen; Nauru
Another lazy day at the hotel. I asked about getting an island tour but the ladies at the desk seemed pretty disinterested. They said the concierge car would be there at 1PM. Came back at 1:30PM only to find the lady didn't come to work today due to a funeral, and the hotel bus was broken down. I asked about scooter rental but they said it wasn't possible. So my visit to Nauru was turning out to be a bit of a bust.
Sunrise
About 4:30 I decided to walk up Topside to see if I could find the Japanese anti-aircraft guns. Nauru had originally been a German colony until WWI, then taken over by the Japanese during WWII. They had built several bunkers and gun emplacements over the island. I started walking up the dusty road when a local stopped on his scooter and asked if I needed a lift. Good thing as it ended up being a long, hot, dusty walk with no shade. The interior of the island is where the phosphate was mined, and there's not much left there anymore. We passed by some of the refugee camps. I would never have found the guns as they weren't well marked on my map, being down a road filled with trashed cars and equipment, then down another side road, and finally down an unmarked/invisible path. Jared knew the way though and guided me up to the guns. The lighting wasn't the best though and it was still pretty scorching. Got soaked with sweat just in the short climb up to the gun turret.
Local BBQ
Japanese guns
Local swimming 'pool'
Jared drove me back down into town and back to the hotel, I offered him something for the ride and guide but he wouldn't accept it! Very nice people I'd met so far. For dinner I walked back to the Bay Restaurant, past the marina which is used as the local swimming hole. Tonight though the restaurant was pretty deserted. I ended up getting the sirloin special washed down with Fat Yak beer.