MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM CHRISTMAS ISLAND!







It’s certainly no Christmas tree by the fireplace made extra cozy by the feet of snow outside, as in Minneapolis…

Instead it’s a Christmas snorkel and French toast and champagne on the beach. We head out for a morning snorkel; the water temp is perfect and the clarity great. A bunch of folks went for a Christmas dive (Santa hats included) and afterward we make French toast and drink champagne on the beach with them. The cove offers a handful of communal gas grills, and many locals who stayed on-island for the holidays are there cooking up food, drinking, and generally being jolly. We find some grilled sausages and smoked tuna on our plates, too.

Then it was decided that a jetty jump was in order; so Arthur, Kristin (a fellow Midwesterner!; hails from Indiana) and I take a jump off the jetty. Arthur and I decide we need more ocean time, so we take a couple kayaks out for a spin around the point. We soon feel as though we are getting too much sun, so we paddle back, and promptly take a nap. Later we head over to Rob and Kristin’s for some food and drinks. Kristin provides a buffet of casseroles (her friend sent her French friend onions, so we even had the infamous green bean holiday casserole :) and watch American football (again, sent by Kristin's friend) and we provide the drinks (Bloody Mary’s and Cypresses).

All in all a great day! Though I can’t say it felt like Christmas. My body doesn’t identify palm trees and sunshine as congruent with Christmas time; but I think that’s preferable. This way I don’t miss my family as much for Christmas, and I still get to celebrate and be festive in a small town community. I don’t recall the last time so many strangers wished me a Merry Christmas.

Some folks host a potluck Christmas Eve party at their place in Settlement. Arthurs cooks up a mean batch of latkes and I cook up some applesauce accompaniment to bring with the jelly; wish that we could find some sour cream. [Fresh dairy is a bit of hard find the island; milk is the ultra-pasteurized long-life variety, just as in Kenya; luckily the main supermarket has a healthy variety of cheese, though one has to be most vigilant of expiration dates, and fresh yogurt making kits are available]. Have a fun time drinking champagne and eating delicious foods. Arthur and I take the 60 second walk to the rocky coast and listen to the ocean while gazing at the moon through the fronds of a coconut palm. Is it really Christmas time?

Every time I walk into the flat I can't help but smile at the corn getting higher every day...

Spent the last week digging up a section of the backyard to turn into our veggie garden. Again, had to figure out how to keep it crabby-free (as they'll eat all our seedlings) and during a Parks office lunch BBQ, came up with the perfect solution: do what the professionals do. During the annual crab migration the roads are literally crawling with thousands upon thousands of these crustaceans traveling to the ocean looking for water and a mate. So to avoid catastrophic road moralities, Parks has installed culverts under the main roads, and channel the migratin' mass with long sections of specialized tarp. Turns out they have huge spools of the stuff left over from the project, and we're welcome to use as much as we'd like. Alright! After surrounding the garden with the tarp we start to dig up our rows and transplant the corn and cucumbers. We also inherit an eggplant and some herbs from some folks moving off-island. We wonder if we should dig up the "upper terrace" too and expand our potential veggie real estate...

Get up at 3am and head out to Greta Beach to catch the annual red crab migration. About a month ago the male and female crabs traveled down the plateau forest and came to the ocean to rehydrate. The males then made and fought over nesting burrows, where "when two crabs love each other very much" billions of new baby crabs got their start. Shirking all further responsibility, the males then headed back up the terrace to their home on the plateau. The females stayed ocean side for about a month while the fertilized eggs, held in a special abdominal flap on their carapace, developed.
Somehow, during the during the last week of the phase of the moon at the early morning high tide, all the females make the charge for the water and release their eggs, which hatch upon contact. You can see the dark eggs bursting out of their abdominal flap, and they do this little claws-up, gyrating dance to release the eggs in the water.

They litter all possible surfaces, climbing the cliffs projecting over the ocean. Some females are a bit lazy about their motherly duties and simply drop their eggs from an overhanging precipice. Sometimes the eggs make to the water, and sometimes they land in your hair. And there's a surprising amount of momentum coming from a falling crabby egg mass.









High tide falls around 4am, so most of action happens in the pitch dark.






As dawn begins to break I set the camera on an extended exposure, and capture a few folks walking on the beach with their headlamps.










We stick around for sunrise and watch the last of crabs make their trek to the ocean.

Sow some corn in the front garden today. Boy oh boy oh boy, I sure do hope it takes!

Christmas Island puts up its holiday decorations. The main attraction is a street light in the middle of the roundabout strung up with Christmas lights. The first shot is taken opposite our flat, and shows it, on the left, in the background. The second is taken from our veranda, and the time lapse setting captures three vehicles in the roundabout.

The flat is officially starting to grow on us, and we're feeling like putting down some roots. So we spend the weekend ripping out weeds and sewing seeds. We remove the tangle of weeds from the front garden, leaving only a papaya tree. We realize that we have no defenses against the red crabs, who are currently on the move beginning their migration to the ocean, so we salvage some sheet metal from the "tip" (=dump) and set up a crabby barrier. We add a little rocky landscaping, and needing a little more shade for our veranda, we decide to translocate a palm from our jungle-y backyard.








[Arthur pauses to reflect exactly how much 'merican white trash persona he can bring to the planting venture...]















We set up a mess of seed trays, and wonder if anything will germinate from all our little seeds. After cleaning up, we continue on the if-we-can't-buy-it-let's-make-it road and make yogurt and a homemade pizza for dinner.

FLIGHTPATH TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Start Arthur’s ipod timer on the jetway in Minneapolis to see what our total travel time will be. First flight is from Minneapolis to L.A. (4 hrs), and, after eating leftover lefse, we head from L.A. to Auckland (12.5 hrs) with no problems; get Air New Zealand's 747 into Auckland and it's big and beautiful and overflowing with movies and good food. During descent, can start to see tiny bits of islands spotting the ocean, and the idea of island living becomes all the more real. We’ve now been traveling for 20 hours. Grab a wireless connection in the airport and use our new Magicjack to call home, for free! First time trying it internationally (though it still registers as a local number) and get great reception. Excellent.

Our last flight for a couple days is from Auckland to Perth. Another big plane with lots of movies and food. Don’t sleep much, arrive on time, customs a surprising snap. Get picked up from our airport motel, waiting outside we find unexpected heat and humidity. We check in, shower, and “lay down for a minute.” When we wake up, it’s suddenly dark outside, and apparently 4 hours later. Luckily the hotel has a pub menu, as it’s 1030 at night. After eating we promptly pass out again.

Wake up to sunlight, eat some breakfast, and figure out the bus system and head to downtown Perth. Wander around for awhile and check out the outside malls, the waterfront, and Perth's bell tower.

We take a little rest under some great palm trees, which, at first glance, appeared to be inhabited by toy parrots. After some squawking and flying, we figure out our mistake and watch these Rainbow lorikeets play around for a bit.

We stop for a coffee and realize we’ve now been traveling for 60 hours.

Leaving the city we stumble across a Belgian beer garden, and indulge as it may be the last chance for awhile for imbibing our favorite brew.

Bus map shows location of main depot, and we see tons of buses pulling into large structure, but all the signs say “no pedestrian access.” Figure out that need to cross large sky walk to access building, and find the right bus. But don’t remember from what bus stop we started our day, and luckily the friendly bus driver knows our motel, and drops us at the right spot. See two gents drinking beer outside the motel restaurant as we return, and we officially meet Pete and Dennis, the project’s co-supervisors. Enjoy pleasantries over a beer, and then we take a taxi to Fremantle, a coastal town known for good seafood.

Take off next morning – Perth to Cocos (Keeling) Island to Christmas Island. We land a few times to refuel, and the seven-hour overall flight path has us anxious to stop the traveling. We descend onto a tiny airstrip on a tiny island, and, after 85 hours of travel, arrive on Christmas Island.

ROAD TRIP TO MN

After Arthur touches the Mezuzah for good luck, and we take one last goodbye picture, we head off to drive to Cleveland to visit Arthur’s sister, Nella and niece, Annabelle.

We take the ferry over Lake Champlain; it’s a beautiful day to say goodbye to VT. Stop for picnic lunch in Adirondacks and show up for dinner in Cleveland.

Spend the next day with Nella and Annabelle, watch Annabelle open up her gifts from VT and show Annabelle the

joys of playing with a frisbee and romping in the leaves.

After some clay modeling of a multicolored family and a big red ant, and a little jam session, we head on down the road to Chicago. Catch dinner with a friend from Mpala and then head to a great Belgian beer pub (thanks, Wyman).

Next day hang out with a couple old college friends and get to meet Finn, the biggest cutest 14 month old I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Head on up to Milwaukee to catch up with best bud from school, and have great overdue catch-up, epic shuffleboard included.

Finally make it home to MN and have a blast hanging out with the family, though wish we had more time and fewer errands. Eat superbly the whole time, Arthur rips up entryway carpet to discover gorgeous fifty year hardwood beneath, enjoy a walk around Lake Harriet, and an amazing meal at a French bistro. Go traditional Norwegian for last meal, with fish and lefse, rice pudding and fruit soup. Uncle comes over, huge atlas in hand, to see where exactly this Christmas Island is. Finish up packing, and get ready to fly to other side of the world.