Day: November 21, 2024

Quiet Day on Cocos

/ brisbanefrannie / 2 Comments

We were up early with it bags packed ready for a picnic swimming day on Direction Island.

Best plans often get disrupted. This time by rain. It was raining quite heavily and we decided going to a deserted island – no matter how beautiful would not be the same in rain. For 5 hours. The ferry drops you at 9.30 and picks you up at 2.30.

So back to bed to restart our day later. Steve and Martyn had a visit from Peter the boat captain for tomorrow’s big swim. He took them to where they would be landing and discuss the route from Home island to here on West Island.

Jo & I caught up on our reading on the lovely verandah. We went walking in a break in the rain and ended up at Sally’s bakery. It it had closed. The only cafe and the 2-3 restaurants only open intermittently. Very strange.

We dropped into the supermarket and got some bread. $10 I don’t know how people live here. The prices are so expensive and it’s such a long way to go to get anywhere. It’s actually closer to Malaysia than Australia.

We browsed the little information centre / museum. Then headed back along the waterfront for lunch on our verandah.

Last night we’d gone up the Cocos club for a few drinks before dinner. But discovered the little restaurant that was down to open tonight was closed for the Year 10 formal. So we had to buy a frozen bbq pack to cook at home. It worked out beautifully. But the 2 glasses of wine made me sleepy so it was another early night. We are definitely settling into island life.

In the afternoon I went for another walk and spotted 4 black tipped sharks. Just off shore.

Then I found the old Government House. Government House, constructed in 1953, is an important symbol of Australian Government representation on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

It features a similar design to other houses in the area. It’s one story , suited to local climatic conditions and includes a formal driveway with white painted edges, fencing, a flag pole and area for entertaining. It is sited with ocean frontage.

I walked past the High School which goes to year 10.

And I adored all the frangipani trees either bouys handing in them.

We had dinner on our verandah. A carb load g for Steve and Martyn getting ready for their 9 km swim tomorrow.

Off to bed early to get ready for when Peter arrives with his boat to take us over the Home Island to swim back. Jo & I will travel on the boat to organise the feeds. Regular drink stops and a sugar hit to keep them going.

Our friend, Martyn Southall in raising some money for National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Martyn and Steve are both looking to do a 9 km swim at Cocos Island on Friday.

The link is below.

https://fundraise.nbcf.org.au/fundraisers/martynsouthall/swim-for-breast-cancer

If you’d like to know more or make a donation please use the link.

Wish them luck. The conditions are not ideal so we hope they make it.

Cocos Keeling Island – History

/ brisbanefrannie / 4 Comments

Many people (including myself ) know about Cocos Islands. I have now read a lot about it and its history.

The islands were on the ancient trade route between India, Burma, and Southeast Asia and were regularly visited by ships. In the 16th century, Portuguese sailors named the islands after the Portuguese word for coconut, coco

The islands were then discovered in 1609 by the British sea captain William Keeling but no settlement occurred until the early 19th century. One of the first settlers was John Clunies-Ross, a Scottish merchant; much of the island’s current population is descended from the Malay workers he brought in to work his copra plantation. The Clunies-Ross family ruled the islands as a private fiefdom for almost 150 years, with the head of the family usually recognised as resident magistrate. The British annexed the islands in 1857, and for the next century they were administered from either Ceylon or Singapore. The territory was transferred to Australia in 1955, although until 1979 virtually all of the territory’s real estate still belonged to the Clunies-Ross family.

Charles Darwin spent 12 days at the Cocos (keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean during the Voyage of HMS Beagle in 1836. He explored many parts of the archipelago, and collected a large number of geological, plant and animal specimens.

The Two World Wars saw the islands become targets due to their strategic position in the Indian Ocean. 

From 1944 to 1946 the tranquil islands came under military administration and buzzed with activity, home to thousands of military personnel.

The people of the Cocos Keeling Islands voted to become part of Australia in 1984. 

The islands are now an internationally significant habitat for wildlife, and a remote tropical paradise for tourists seeking adventure, culture and space to breathe

The island is home to some rare bird including the red foot booby bird. I remember when we were in Galapagos we saw the blue footed booby bird.

The red footed booby bird

Cocos is also home to the red crab. There are hundreds of them. Little ones to quite big ones who crossed the sandy road in front of us when we went cycling out to the yacht club yesterday.

The sunsets are also very special. Though we have had a lot of cloud cover tonights was rather lovely.