"Destroyed paradise?" a Nauru Travel Page by harrymitsidis

Nauru is a little dot in the ocean that nobody would have heard of were it not for phospate. The country (can it really be called that?) used to have the world's greatest phosphate reserves courtesy of its position in the middle of nowhere, meaning birds would come to the land and do what they do...and create phosphate. Bad planning and greed resulted in the place having its day as the most developed of all the Pacific islands until the reserves ran out...and then the decline started. What used to be a busy island, with many flights throughout the region, is now a shadow of its former self, left to cope with little prospects of any future. Nowadays the island is most famous for a huge jail that it rents to Australia, which sends all unwanted people here: no way to escape, everything is too far away. This curious place, nevertheless, must be one of the greatest in terms of curiosity value. And it is truly the smallest republic in the world, with a total territory of merely 21 square kilometers and a population of barely 10.000...

The few expats that are here probably drink for breakfast. At least that's the sight I was faced with in the Menen Hotel, the only decent one on the island, where anybody with any business stays. From here you can look out onto the Pacific and ponder the place's existence. Your best bet is to get a 'tour' which will last all of 3 hours at its very best. You can drive around the island in about 30 minutes tops, and there is little to see apart from how the few locals live, the port and the airport itself, which is a star attraction for the locals when the plane arrives: here you can get nice shots of kids ever so merrily looking at the one flight a week that comes from Brisbane...
Of course the highlight of it all are the phosphate mines which are still operational. You will have to take the 'mountain' road to get there, and will see the railway wagons with which phosphate was transported to the port. And the remaining phosphate of course, which is quickly being depleted, makes for a moon-like atmosphere.

Yes I did make it to the phosphate mines on what was a pleasant sunny day as can be expected from August. Avoid the period from September to February, that's apparently tornado time and I can't think of much worse than Nauru when the weather is awful...would scare the hell out of me.