The Grotto

We hop on our bikes and head out to the Grotto, a cool little cave where the freshwater gets mixed with the incoming ocean waves.  Technically you can dive down and swim out to sea (signs warn you of the danger in English, Chinese, and Malay) but we're happy just to check out the cave formations and sit in the undulating water.  We ride back to town, and enjoy some beers at the pub at sunset, entertained by an Egret, and watch the navy vessel pull an old refugee boat behind it.  They'll ensure it won't be used again as a people smuggler boat when they use it for target practice; in awhile all you can see is a plume of smoke on the horizon.

Mmmmmm, coffeeeee.

Hard, well, impossible, to get good coffee here.  So one espresso maker purchase + some increasingly delicious practice getting the perfect extraction produces what we've been missing.  Especially once our frothing thermometer arrives...

Territory Week

Sept 27 - Oct 4

It's the anniversary of when Christmas Island officially became an Australian territory, and the island spends a week celebrating.  There's musical performances by high school students, the Malay drummers,  the Chinese dragon and traditional dances, and a special sitar performance.

Later on in the week the Christmas Island Cricket and Sports Club hosts a games day, including a tug-of-war, an egg toss, and lots of races.  Arthur took home the coveted "fasted man on the island" with his 100m dash win, and he and some friends also took home gold in the 4X400m relay.  

And to cap off the celebration is the Raft Race, where folks put together homemade rafts and race them around the cove.  We find 8 discarded mini-fridges and an old trampoline, and put together a make-shift catamaran. Weaponry is also allowed (perhaps even encouraged), and we mix up a batch of flour-bombs, laced with red dye.  After a parade of all the rafts, we take the water.  We're a bit heavy for the race around the buoys, but we do manage to hit a few targets with our red flour bombs.  The "Nemesis" is pretty solidly built, so we take her on a few sunset cruises around the cove.

Layover in Singapore

August 18 - 19

Since we had to fly through Singapore on the way home, we hit it on the way back, too.  This time we have 24 hours to kill, so we get to see more than just the airport.  We hit up a great little Indian joint for lunch, visit an art museum, and amble through the city taking in the sites.