"Wow!" I can't help spluttering into my snorkel. The water is so clear the beautiful coral garden which sits about 20m below opens up as far as the eye can see in every direction I look.
Playful black triggerfish chase each other through coral that literally glows; fluorescent yellow, luminescent mauve and a stunning pale blue. The only thing I can possibly compare it to is the special effects in the James Cameron movie
Every now and then a solo, large, emerald green parrot fish swims slowly by, sending a school of smaller fish quickly scampering. I'm so engrossed in the exciting new world I swim straight into another snorkeller. We both pop to the surface and pull the snorkels out of our mouths.
"What do you think?" I ask. "It's fantastic!" she replies. "It's 10 times better than the Great Barrier Reef."
A few metres further from shore, the shallow platform suddenly plunges into a black abyss known as the Java Trench. Eventually, we tear ourselves out of the ocean and get back to the RIB - Rigid Inflatable Boat - and zoom from White West Beach back to the jetty. Along the way we pass rugged volcanic cliffs, with booby chicks perched throughout, and stop to drive into a deep cave.
More than a detention centre
Whenever I'd told anyone I was going to Christmas Island I received the same reaction.
"Isn't that where the..." they would say. "Yes," I'd reply. "It's where the detention centre is."
It doesn't take long to discover, however, that there is way more to this isolated pocket of land, in the Indian Ocean 2600km northwest of Perth, than the Federal Government's immigration centre. But reminders of the centre are everywhere.
To board our boat at Flying Fish Cove we had to walk along the jetty beside a school bus, which had come to meet another boat carrying the latest arrivals from Afghanistan and take them to the North West Point Facility. As we made our way along the coast, tourists pulled out their cameras and began taking happy snaps of the navy boat making its way to shore.
Before the detention centre opened here two years ago, Christmas Island was best known for being Australia's answer to the Galapagos and locals are hoping the recent arrival of budget airline Virgin Blue will help reignite its reputation as a tourist destination.
The island gets a number of Pacific Ocean species as well as Indian Ocean species and, due to its isolation, they mate and cause hybrid species. Manta rays, hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, dolphins and turtles abound, and tuna and prized wahoo swim just off shore. Seahorses and humpback whales have also been spotted there.
Tropical golden bosun birds, which are found nowhere else in the world, fly above us and if you are lucky you will spot an Abbott's booby - the largest, rarest booby in the world.
The red crab migration
At the start of the wet season each year, millions of red land crabs migrate en masse in synchronisation with the moon from their burrows on the rainforested slopes to the ocean to breed and release eggs into the sea. The 10km-15km journey must be a long way for a little crab, and the spectacle has been listed by documentary filmmaker Sir David Attenborough as one of his 10 greatest wildlife experiences in the world. Statistics show there is one red crab every metre in the rainforest, which takes up about two-thirds of the 125sq km island.
On the road to The Dales walking trails our guide, Lisa Preston, from Island Explorer Holidays, expertly manoeuvres her car around crabs, joking she looks like a drunk driver. There is a technique to driving here, she explains. But the scared crabs scurry one way and then the other and sometimes they are impossible to miss.
"That was just a twig," Lisa insists as we hear a crack under the tyres. Some cars sport bumper stickers with the words "Flat isn't my best angle". During the migration many roads are closed altogether, with the boom gates sometimes locked for three months, forcing drivers to go around the long way. Robber crabs, also known as coconut crabs because of their ability to crack coconuts open, also dot the road. They can grow to the size of footballs and have been known to steal golf balls off the golf course green because they think they are eggs.
In the steamy, tropical heat, we hike through decaying leaf litter, past mossy Tahitian chestnut trees, huge lumps of perforated leaf litter and muddy terraces to a limestone waterfall where we fill our water bottles with crisp clear spring water. Along the path we see red crabs which carry a leaf in their claws as if their life depends on it.
On the drive back, we stop on the side of the road to watch frigate birds flying in loops and swooping down over a large puddle to scoop out water. We stand transfixed as the thirsty birds go through the motion over and over again, following a distinct leader.
The real island
While Christmas Island is still splashed across the news on an almost daily basis, it would be fair to say most mainlanders know little about it. The island is much closer to Indonesia than Australia - only 360km away - and thongs which wash in from there are stacked in piles on some of its isolated coves and beaches.
It is still considered an international destination for customs and quarantine purposes and you have to take your passport and go through Perth's international airport to get there. It feels a little strange when you fill out your immigration card writing where you are travelling from (Australia) and where you plan to spend most time abroad (Australia).
The island was named on Christmas Day, 1643, by British merchant seaman Captain William Mynors as he sailed past. But it wasn't settled until 1888 when high-quality phosphate was discovered. Chinese workers and European managers began to arrive and mine the phosphate, which is exported as slow release fertiliser, and Malays arrived to work the ships at the waterfront.
Today there is a Malay quarter called Kampang, a Chinese quarter called Poon Saan, and the blink-and you'll- miss-it town centre and European quarter The Settlement, where the supermarket, pub and much of the tourist accommodation is.
The Sunset Resort is the former hospital, while nearby Captain's Last Resort was once the morgue. Chalkboards around the island's only roundabout announce news of birthdays and other events. The island has a fish-and-chip shop, a Buddhist temple and the call to prayer rings from the mosque in Kampang five times a day.
One of the most revered gravesites in the Chinese cemetery is that of an Englishman, Gordon Bennett, an alcoholic who died of a stroke when he stopped drinking because the booze had kept his blood thin. He started the union on Christmas Island with the aim of giving Chinese miners the same rights as other men, and beers and smokes are still left on his grave as a thank you.
In 1942, during World War II, Japanese air raids caused substantial damage to Settlement. It is now possible to dive two wrecks which were torpedoed during the war.
Christmas Island is only really Australian by a twist of history. In 1958, the Australian government paid Singapore 2.9 million pounds - the estimated value of lost phosphate revenue - and sovereignty was transferred.
Island food
Christmas Island is not the kind of place you go to for fine dining experiences, but if you are looking for authentic Asian cuisine you are set.
Lucky Ho's Chinese restaurant in Poon Saan serves such dishes as coconut prawns and baby bok choy. The Golden Bosun, which has panoramic ocean views, serves a good fresh wahoo. You just have to be careful not to sit under a coconut tree at one of the outdoor tables. While we were dining we heard one fall behind us with a thud.
Walking back to the Sunset Resort on a humid evening, looking out at the flat ocean under an unpolluted starry sky is an eerie feeling. I thought about the families in the boats beyond, how desperate, scared and nervous they must feel as they make their way to Australian shores where they would be so near to and yet so far from any of the tourist delights their first port of call has to offer.
When to go
The red crab migration depends on the tides and the moon but usually occurs between late October and December. Whale sharks usually visit between October and April. Frigate birds are usually mating from January to May. The wet season is December to April.
Getting there
Virgin Blue flies from Perth to Christmas Island on Thursdays and Saturdays, with fares from $464 a person, one way, with connections from other capital cities.
See
www.virginblue.com.au
Staying there
Sunset Resort has standard rooms from $120 a night and superior ocean view rooms from $145 a night.
Tours: Island Explorer Holidays offers specialised tours, from the seasonal Red Crab Discovery tour to the Christmas Island Bird Tour.
See
www.islandexplorer.com.au
More
: www.christmas.net.au
Top tips: Travel Australia
source:news.com.au
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét