About
In its first version, this website started as a way of showing photos of my trip to family and friends – long before blogs and social media – and grew from there. Although it had been lying dormant and had not been updated for some years, I was still receiving emails from people who come across it. I decided to relocate it to its own domain name and give it a new lease of life.
More recently, it has recently inspired something bigger - www.micro-odysseys.net - I decided I wanted a new venue for showing some other travel photography not only from Micronesia. But this website’s name lent itself to the new website too – after all, each adventure to a new place is, in its own small way, a micro odyssey.
I took off to Micronesia in January 1999 on a whim because I wanted to go some place that was off the beaten track. Some place that none of my friends knew about. Some place that was intriguing and warm.
So, after extensive research and bewilderment of travel agents, I departed to Guam, Rota and Pohnpei via Nauru.
Maybe next time I’ll will end up somewhere else off the beaten track. With time and money, Bhutan or Patagonia or Lapland or somewhere is on the agenda… Maybe those photos will appear at www.micro-odysseys.net too.
The itinerary of my trip in 1999 went like this:
- January 13: Left Melbourne at night, flew on Air Nauru to Nauru via Brisbane. The inside of the Air Nauru plane was converted into a combi-freighter, with bouquets of flowers stashed onto the seats amongst other cargo. Apparently, someone important on Nauru had died, and floral tributes were on the way for the funeral on the next day. Back then, Air Nauru flew its one plane to Melbourne once per week.
- January 14: Arrived in Nauru at about 5:30am, stayed in Nauru all day (with an extensive tour of the island), then left for Guam in the evening when Air Nauru’s plane came back again. The phosphate mine (or what’s left of it) featured extensively.
- January 15: Guam – Hired a car and drove around the south of the island.
- January 16: Guam – visited Tumon and the tourist strip, flew to Rota in the evening. For me , it was an unusual international flight – a 30 seat plane that took only 30 minutes.
- January 17: Rota – spent all day looking around the island, then flew back to Guam in the evening. Driving on the wrong side of the road is getting easier by now – I am less likely to cause a collision than a few days ago.
- January 18: Guam – visited Agaña, did some shopping, and, on my student budget, sampled some of those fast-food chains we (thankfully) didn’t yet have in Australia. I left for Pohnpei in the evening.
- January 19: Pohnpei – climbed Sokeh’s Rock, visited and walked around the town of Kolonia, drove around the island a bit. Drank Sakau (maybe a bit too much for a beginner) at night.
- January 20: Pohnpei – I was taken on a tour to Nan Madol and Kepirohi Waterfall in a small boat out on the lagoon. Ate delicious mangrove crab at South Park Hotel’s restaurant.
- January 21: Pohnpei – I lay a bit low with the local equivalent of “Bali Belly”, but visited Liduduhniap Waterfall and drove to Palikir (the capital of FSM).
- January 22: Pohnpei – did some shopping for coconut products in the morning, then flew back to Nauru in the afternoon. Air Nauru is the friendliest airline I ever flew. With only one plane, the same crew went around and around all the time, and they got to know you after a few flights. Stayed overnight in Nauru. Had a few beers with some interesting people.
- January 23: Departed Nauru at lunchtime, flying to Brisbane, and then connecting with a domestic flight back to Melbourne.