Christmas Eve / The GT's pt2

The fish where cooked, and much eating then ensured.

All present agreed it was bloody fantastic..

Christmas Eve / The GT's pt1

Day before Christmas eve, two of the Doctors Chris works with went fishing (with hand-lines, a piece of foam, and a large hook) from a site known as the blowholes, off a 10 meter cliff, they threw there hand-lines in, and allowed the backwash of the waves to carry their bits of foam, out and away from the cliffs.


Couple of hours later, they turn up at our house, with their catch.

Three Giant Trevally or GT's as the locals call them.

Christmas eve, all the Doctors and a few other medical staff gathered in the cove, just near the jetty, where they have a bar-b-que.

The two of the fish where dressed for cooking, much garlic, butter, spring onions, lemon, onions, and other seasonings where applied to the fish.

And then on the bar-b-que they went

Christmas Island

It hard to show high and steep Christmas Island is. It extends from the ocean floor for over 5km before it hits the water surface and turns into an island, it then continues up for over 1200 feet, and has really steep sides.

The photo to the left, show Flying Fish Cove, from a lookout above it.

The black arrow points to where we live,

The Red arrow, where the boat from Indonesia went ashore

and the Blue arrow, where the kids jump into the water from the Pier.

Dave...

Dead Robber Crabs (again)

Finally got a photo of a Pink Cross, marking the site that a Robber Crab died
There are ~700 of these all over the island, one for each dead robber crab (that the killer didn't stop and dispose of)

Question:How Friendly are the people of Christmas Island People

Answer: Very Friendly,

As soon as some people we met on the Island found out we didn't have transport all the time, (Five Doctors, two cars) we got the offer firstly of a scooter, shown right for the entire time we are here, and then yesterday, a family going to Perth for three weeks, said, you can use our car while we are away, so we got the Holden Rodeo until mid January.

The Christmas Island people would have to be the friendliest, most helpful people I have ever met, all they want to do it help you, its amazing, as for security, this is the first place, I've been where the car keys, if not in the ignition, are probably sitting on the sun-visor.

Petrol costs $1.92 per litre (for the scooter) and Diesel costs $2.21 per litre (for the Rodeo)

Put $4.25 in the scooter (filled it up), and $30 in the Rodeo (half a tank) and we should be fine for the next couple of weeks.

By the way, where we are living looks just like the building in the background behind the Rodeo, but our building is actually in front of the Rodeo, and the roof is about level with the road the Rodeo is parked on (I dont think I have mentioned that Christmas Island is one of the hilliest places I've ever been, I'll have to get some photos looking down on the Cove so you can all understand how high we are above sea level)

Dave..

Thanks at the roundabout

Christmas Island has a roundabout, that probably everybody on the island goes around at least once a day. On two sides of the roundabout, there are large blackboards mounted on buildings, on which people leave messages.

Its the local equivalent of a newspaper (which the island doesn't have), and will have messages such as happy birthday, for sale ads, we've moved, etc.

Yesterday, the message to the right was up on one of the boards, very touching as I'd suggest nearly everybody on the island was involved in someway or another on that day.

Robber Crab videos for Jen

Heres some video of the robber crabs, especially for Jen Day.

A bigish one.

And a baby one.

Where we live

Our home away from home is on top of a 1000 foot cliff (which can not be seen easily in google maps)
Its the long white building on the left, in the group of four in the middle of the screen.


View Larger Map

Its only small, but its fine, as most days we are out and about doing island things.

The long white diagonal line to the left, is the conveyor system which takes the crushed phosphate limestone down to the bulk storage on the lower part of the island, it drops over 1100 feet from the top of the island to the bottom, its going down at a 45% angle the whole way, a quite amazing bit of engineering.

Dave...

You can make comments

Guys,

Just a reminder you can comment on posts and ask for more information on the things we are seeing, and we will read it, and respond. Just click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of each page and type away
We know that you are accessing this blog from right around the world, so get to it, what do you want to know about Christmas Island.

Dave...

Jumping of the the Christmas Island Pier

Today, after driving around the island, we went to the Christmas Island Pier, and did some swimming, the kids had great fun jumping about 4 meters into the sea, 

First nathan

And then Zach

All good fun, and the kids loved it, the only interesting part of the day, was the observers, driving around looking for things I wont mention.....

Robber Crab Photos

Today we saw robber crabs all over the place, they range in size from big to huge  And they are so blue, its amazing


There are signs saying dont drive over them, as they will get hit by the bottom of the car they are so large.

Some of these are really little, but we have seen others that are much large (with out the camera - Damm)

Friday after the event

Well the media has turned up, with their satellite up links, and they are looking for stories, hence a riot has been started by some of the detainees.

We are fine, as we are quite a way away from the detention centers, but it has definitely made me think long and hard about how we handle the refuge problem.

Refugees and sinkings

December 15, 2010, a day that many will remember for the rest of their lives.

We were woken at just after 6:00am, by another Doctor from <redacted due to company policy> (the company that Chris is working for) who told us, that a boat was was just off Christmas Island, and was in trouble.

Quickly all the Docs agreed to a plan to handle what may occur, some went to the location, and others went to the  hospital to await any casualties.


Chris and I agreed to keep the kids at home away from the site where the boat was located (a decision we were later happy to have made), as little did we know what was going to occur.

As the day unfolded, the tragedy that was occurring was hard to fathom on the island, from the top of the island (where we live), all that could be seen was the customs and navy patrol boat off shore cruising up and down a km off shore, while many small rubber duckies could be seen in closer to the shore surrounded by lots of wood in the watrer.

Its hard for people who have never been here to understand that  Christmas Island is in very deep water, and is surrounded by cliffs that are very very high, so high, that to climb them on a good day is almost impossible, let alone a day like yesterday, the cliffs are a very sharp limestone, so sharp that wearing thongs while walking on them is painful, let along being in a surging 8 meter high swell that was occurring yesterday. 

Chris saw the single survivor who made it to shore unaided , every  other survivors were plucked from the water by the navy guys, who from all accounts did an amazing job, in very dangerous situation.

The sea was so dangerous, that they had to land all the survivors on the lee side of the island, which was a 30 minute boat ride away.

So many people died, so many families were ripped apart, I don't even know what you say to somebody who saw his wife and child drown in front of him, while it was impossible to do anything to help those people.

I am not sure what the way to solve this problem is, but I do know that after what happened, something has to be done, or more people will die, while many will blame the people smugglers, its us the, Australian people who need to change whats happening and until we do, the refugees will continue to take the risks, and will take to the seas for a better life. This is not a political point scoring game,this is about people's lives so all of us need to get involved because we are part of the human family!!!

Robber Crab kills

The number of robber crabs killed is a national disgrace, 610 killed in the first 9 months of they year. They have a guys who's job is to plot every kill on a map, and to go out on the road and paint fluorescent pink crosses on the road. (I'll take a photo of a cross on the road and post it later this week)

Crabs

We have seen four types of crabs, Red crabs, which are the most common and are slow and tasteless, blue crabs like to hide, and are hard to find, Coconut or rober crabs each coconuts, and are slow and yummy and cost $750 for every one you kill, and green crabs (no photos sorry), who are like extras from the movie aliens and move at the speed of light (they are so fast is scarry)

Our car

Chris had all the weekend and Monday off, so we "Obtained" a 4wd (A Toyota Fortuner)
and went exploring. We went the the northmost point, the southmost point, and out the the NW detention center
The island takes aboiut 30 minutes to drive across in any direction, so its not big, and the condition on the windward side compared to the other side are very different.

Shopping on Xmas island

Everything is expensive on Xmas Island, as it all comes by boat, however there is no GST or duty applied to anything, hence some items are very much cheaper, such as alcohol, and cigarettes.

 Meat and veggies on the other hand cost a packet, and in most cases are frozen (due to the time it take for the ship to sail, and unload)

The baby plane

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Horrie Miller Dr,Perth Airport,Australia

In Perth

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Searle Rd,Perth Airport,Australia

Two days to blast off

Two days to go, and its time to start packing, both figuratively and literally.

What not to eat

Chris has told us, that these crabs (robber crabs) eat coconuts and taste lovely,
however, its a $750 fine to do so. Even if its in your car by accident.

Dave...

What to expect

Chris has told us, that there will be lots of Crabs like this one

Dave...

Welcome to Summer with Dave, Chris, Nate and Zach

In December/January 2010/2011 the Schwarz/Okello Family will be living on Christmas Island.

This blog will be our way of keeping everybody up to speed with our preparations prior to leaving, and our experiences once on the Island. (Provided the free Internet Access really is free)

We will have photos, comments, and a regular update to keep you all involved in our summer adventure.

Let the fun times begin.


Dave, Chris, Nate and Zach