cocos islands

Move to Home Island – in the rain

/ brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

The sun was out this morning and spirits lifted. But not for long. By the time we had breakfast and made some food for Jo and Martyn it had started to rain.

Martyn stayed at the clinic with Jo last night. It’s not a hospital so no night staff, no bed sheets – everything disposable as there is no laundry. A nurse left her medication and when they returned in the morning her pain was extremely uncomfortable.

We sat chatting trying to lift her spirits but the medivac wasn’t able to arrive so Jo & Martyn were feeling a little stressed.

Lovely Pete, our boat man from yesterday and Amy, the very capable nurse called to see Jo and promised to bring them some dinner tonight.

Amy the nurse and Pete the boat skipper arrived with a fish curry

We packed up and headed for the ferry to get us to Home Island. We have 3 nights at the historic Clunies-Ross home Oceania House built in 1893 built by the grandson of the original Scottish settler John who arrived in 1827after the islands were discovered by William Keeling in 1609.

The crossing took 30 mins. ( it would have taken the boys about 4 hrs to swim!) It was calm though rainy. Not like yesterday with waves that caused the boat to pitch up and down.

Looking from the wharf to where we set out yesterday!

Gary, the house caretaker met us and gave us a short tour of the island. It’s very different to West is. There are more people here and the houses are very different. It’s a Muslim community so there is a call to prayer sounded five times a day. And there is no alcohol.

We drive through the wet streets- some closed due to flooding! Gary pointed out the attractions and the best places to swim. His wife Paula met us on arrival at the house and explained a little about how it’s run. There are 6 bedrooms 3 with ensuites the other 3 share 2 bathrooms. Ours – the Daphne room is large with old world furniture and a view of the garden.

The lovely bedroom with a bathroom 70’s style! But functional.

Shared kitchen

There is a shared kitchen where you can keep your food and cook your meals. Or you can ask for a home cooked meal – they have a few Malay people who cook curries. We did that for tonight.

We unpacked and had a drink in our lovely room before going down for our curry. We shared the table with two other two couples.

Bruce and Natsuko from Perth and Wolf and Marion from Germany. The German couple in their late 70’s and 80 something are staying a month.

We had a little look around the house but are doing a tour with Gary tomorrow. He has all the historical details for us.

We miss our friends so much. Wish they were here enjoying this lovely old house. They are still stuck in the clinic wondering what’s going on. We’re all very worried for Jo.

Tomorrow we plan to go for a swim at a nearby beach. Even in the rain they said it’s beautiful and we’ll see turtles.

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.