Santa Claus is nearly always envisioned as living somewhere cold and snowy rather than warm and balmy. My good friend Amanda sent me a video years ago. It was of a traveller with clips where he was dancing gleefully in dozens of places all around the globe. It was amongst thousands of crabs on Christmas Island that stood out most to me, and then I made it a dream of mine to be there for the annual red crab migration. Christmas Island is home to millions of these colourful creatures, and every year around November and December, they descend from their burrows en masse into the sea to lay their eggs. Sir David Attenborough described sitting amongst the red crabs as one of his greatest TV moments.
I've finally made it to Christmas Island, and it's only fitting that its biggest drawcard is the colour of Santa's hat. Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company sailed past the island on Christmas Day, 1643, giving the island its name. Like many who come here, I opted to do Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in one trip, but with the Christmas Island leg cancelled I ended up having to backtrack to Perth last Friday and then fly here yesterday. Bad weather notoriously cancels flights during the wet season, and the flight yesterday was very bumpy at one stage...enough to make me put my computer away so it wouldn't go flying off the tray table. Getting here, and preparing for this journey, came with a lot of the usual heartaches that come with going to remote places. Whilst I stayed with Kaylene for free on Cocos, it's a lot more difficult finding someone to stay with free of charge for two weeks than for three days. Like Norfolk Island or Lord Howe Island, there is no budget accommodation: the cheapest rooms are about $160 per night and can cost substantially more. A few weeks ago I put an ad on Facebook, and a lady named Joanna responded but she's moving soon and could only rent a room to me for half of my stay, and then only a couple of days ago she backed out entirely. I had to organize something quickly unless I wanted to pay through the nose for a place where I'd likely be staring at a wall (or my computer) after a long day. A lady named Regine responded yesterday and agreed to allow me to rent a room at her place for $200 per week. At the airport, two blokes named Mike and Paul would give me a lift down to Flying Fish Cove, better known as the Settlement. I'd see my first red crab only a few minutes after leaving the airport. Mike and Paul would stop for a few minutes at a purpose-built bridge for the crabs. The road is currently closed due to the migration. The island's only taxi driver would later be upset at Regine because I opted to hitchhike into town instead of calling him for a lift. Regine lives in a small, cute little place with a verandah and a lot of plants and shells, along with a great view of the sea.
As an uplifted coral atoll, the geography of Christmas Island is very dramatic. The Settlement is near the sea, and from there the land rises almost at a 90-degree angle.
This gorgeous lookout is at Territory Day Park. Nearby I saw my first robber crab.
For such a small place, there's a wide variety of religions, cultures, languages, and cuisine. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and traditional Chinese religions are all present within a population of about 1,800.
You'll hear English, Malay, Mandarin, and other languages as you walk down the street. With its proximity to Asia, I knew straight away the food would be a step up. After being up early to photograph the red crabs, I called in for a steaming bowl of braised pork with noodles at a Chinese restaurant. Whilst Christmas Island has never seen snow or a pine tree, the visitor centre uses the island's name with gusto, selling Christmas-related souvenirs. Unlike places like Norfolk Island, Christmas Island isn't almost entirely dependent on tourism. Phosphate mining is the main industry here.
Whilst I'm here I won't be searching for eight reindeer but instead for millions of red crabs, and I've seen a few already.
After a delicious lunch and practicing my photography with the red crabs, I visited a spectacular place called the Grotto. Interesting because I went to another place called "the Grotto" a few weeks ago in the Kimberley but the two places couldn't be more different.
The sound of the water rushing through is surreal. A great swim it was at the Grotto as I signed off on one of Christmas Island's few geocaches. From there I had a glass of wine at the Golden Bosun Tavern to go with an absolutely jaw-dropping sunset!
Magnificent! In wondrous awe I am tonight. It was quite a journey to get to Christmas Island, and I'll recap it a bit. The only way to get here is from Perth or, occasionally, Jakarta. That meant having to hitchhike from the Queensland Coast to Perth. More than 8,000 km I used my thumb to travel through every type of climate and landscape imaginable. It should have been a straight shot from Cocos but I ended up backtracking and then having to fly here yesterday. Santa's sleigh has finally landed me on Christmas Island, although it was powered by two engines instead of eight reindeer. A few crabs I've seen, and I have millions more to see on Santa's Isle.
