Award-winning Australian author Susanne Gervay OAM has travelled to every corner of the globe, from speaking at conferences in New York and India to reading stories with children in remote Indigenous communities across Australia.

Yet ask her which destination she remembers most fondly, and the answer comes without hesitation.

“Kiribati stays with me forever.”

The tiny Pacific island nation first appeared on Susanne’s radar through her interest in climate change and the work of the Edmund Rice Centre. An invitation to speak at a writing and arts festival soon turned into an opportunity to visit one of the world’s most vulnerable countries, where she combined her love of travel with her passion for literacy and education.

“I never travel unless there is purpose with pleasure and learning,” she says.

“As a writer, I want to understand other people’s lives, their joys and their struggles. Those experiences become part of my writing.”

Susanne spent time speaking with teachers and students in Tarawa, sharing stories and encouraging children to discover the power of books. One farewell remains etched in her memory.

“The students sang to me,” she says. “I tried not to cry.”

Away from the classroom, every day brought another memorable experience.

She climbed aboard what she describes as a “dodgy tugboat” for the trip to the neighbouring island of Abaiang, where endless sandy beaches, traditional huts and generous hospitality greeted visitors. She sampled giant boiled octopus, met village leaders and even found herself sitting alongside a bride and groom at a local wedding despite never having met either of them before.

“We were given the matching plates because they were considered the best ones,” she says with a laugh. “Then I had to give a speech.”

Alongside the natural beauty, Susanne found herself confronting the realities of daily life in Kiribati.

She visited Tarawa Hospital, where families camped outside to care for sick children, and later joined volunteers planting 3,000 mangroves to help protect the coastline from rising seas. She also visited villages already losing land to the ocean.

“I volunteered to help the drowning island of Tarawa,” she says. “I wish I had more books to give the children.”

Despite those confronting moments, what Susanne remembers most is the warmth of the people she met.

One of the highlights was attending the inter-island games, where competitors travelled by canoe from across Kiribati before gathering for days of singing, dancing and storytelling.

“The singing was breathtaking,” she says. “Hundreds of voices joined together. There were drums, dancing and so much pride in their culture.”

She was equally captivated by the traditional beauty competition, where elaborate outfits were created from pandanus leaves, coconut fibre, shells and hibiscus bark instead of sequins and satin.

“It was gorgeous,” she says.

Travelling alone has taken Susanne to many remarkable places over the years.

She has danced until dawn in Goa, shared dinner with burn survivors and military veterans in New York, read stories with First Nations children deep in the Kimberley and laughed after getting spectacularly stuck climbing into a hot-air balloon basket in Turkey. Each trip has offered a different lesson, although they all have one thing in common.

“You’re never alone unless you want to be,” she says. “You meet people everywhere.”

Those experiences have made her a passionate advocate for solo travel, particularly later in life.

Her advice is practical rather than complicated: research your accommodation, organise your flights carefully, take out travel insurance and don’t be afraid to join tours or retreats where you’ll meet people with similar interests.

“Talk to other solo travellers,” she says. “Enjoy.”

Looking back, Susanne believes every destination has shaped her in a different way, although Kiribati offered a perspective she still carries with her today.

“It was adventure, new experiences, realisations of poverty and living life with what you have,” she says. “There was so much to discover.”

The memories she treasures most are not the places themselves, but the people she met along the way.

Schoolchildren singing farewell songs, A village welcoming a stranger to a wedding,  Conservation volunteers planting mangroves together and Hundreds of islanders raising their voices in song.

Those moments are the reason Kiribati remains the first destination that comes to mind whenever someone asks Susanne about her favourite trip.