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Cam Writt

Suwarrow Atoll (Cook Islands)

Throughout the Pacific are thousands of uninhabited islands and atolls that bask silently in the daylight, and at night practice their yodeling. In the 1940s, New Zealand native Tom Neale got it into his head that he would like to live on Suwarrow, an unpopulated strip of land in the Cook Islands. Between the years of 1952 and 1977, he made the island his home. He had two cats as friends, some chickens and sea creatures for food, coconuts as hammers, and the ocean as a toilet. When he decided sand was his money, he struck gold. However, not everything was so easy for him. He spent six strenuous months repairing a pier, which was left over from WWII. On the very night of its completion, a storm arrived and demolished the entire pier. Of course, we have to take his word on this. In an old recorded interview, one of the cats can be heard in the background saying something that sounds like “inside job”. Neale struggled with arthritis in his time on the island, and he also never decided for himself which 3 books, albums, or women he’d like to be stuck on an island with. His indecision led to airdropped relief crates being filled with sand, saltwater, and “sunburn increasing lotion”.

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