A single island, just 21sqkm in size makes Nauru one of the smallest nations in the world. Rising 61m above sea level Nauru stands alone 60km south of the equator, 3332km north east from Brisbane with her nearest neighbour banaba island 300 kilometres to the east. Nauru is a phosphate island, just one or two metres under its soil is the highest grade phosphate in the world.
Dig below the phosphates and you hit solid lime pinnacle rocks, these rocks can be shaped into tiles or trophy ornaments that displays grains and patterns of fossilised corals and various mollusks. The mining of phosphate has left over two third of its land area barren, an awesome landscape of pinnacle rocks looming like a formidable alien army.
The coastal fringe beyond its sandy shores is coral reefs all around the island making it dangerous for boats to land at low tides. On high tide the waves rise above the coral reef to caresses the sands on the beach. The island has a litter of pill boxes left behind by the Japanese in the war. Few of these war relics are secured hard between the pinnacle rocks and have survived the mining’s. There is a small variety of bird life which includes the endangered and only indigenous Nauruan warbler canary.
Nauru being called the pleasant island is still conceivable through the nature of its people.
