xMas Island & a Western Australian CamperVan Roadtrip

[FearNoFish]

Have been lurking in CS for the longest time, getting inspired and learning from the many good people here and on top of buy/sell.

Sharing a trip I took last year with the wife who is totally her dream to see the red crab migration of Christmas Island in Indian Ocean ever since she saw it on a documentary on TV long time back.

We finally made it there and also took the time to do a CamperVan road trip up north from Perth to Kalbarri as well, goofing, finding eats like a true Singaporean, doing the barbie Aussie style nightly with the CamperVan BBQ grill at the camper van parks.

All good fun and to share with folks who might actually be thinking how Xmas Island and the red crab migration looks like.

Here's a starter to our make believe movie "Red Crab Invasion" at the only old school open air cinema that screens movies for the small xMas Island community weekly.

What we were really hoping to see at least!

What we saw at first fearing that the rains might not come in time during our trip triggering more red crabs to come out of their hiding...

What we finally did see when the migration was in full swing.

 

[FearNoFish]

The islanders are really passionate and serious about their red crab or any form of conservation efforts. It clearly shows when they closed almost all major roads in order to allow the red crab migration to proceed smoothly minimizing any casualties.

Of course there is the other famous crab, Robber Crab aka Coconut Crab, which is supposedly "delicious" but protected!

Here's why it is named Coconut Crab ...

Besides crab and more other crabs, there are scenic spots for a bit of photography as well.

and getting restless and sleepless, a bit of night photography can be done since everyone is either at the very few bars on the island or home after work on the island.

 

[FearNoFish]

and goofing at the number of beaches on the island facing the roar of the Indian Ocean.

which we were lucky to spot these fresh tracks and then attempting to see where they end up on the beach!

and we ended up very lucky to have caught sight of 3 or more turtles that hatched and made a scramble for the ocean.

and what we found interesting was that the apartment accommodation on the island were totally similar to the older Tiong Bahru type of estate we have in Singapore albeit much much cheaper after talking the many locals, many whom were from Singapore and Malaysia.

 

[FearNoFish]

Heading back to Perth from xMas Island, we went up north on a campervan moving all the way to Kalbarri and back.

Stopping over to see some stones at The Pinnacles.

then stopping over at Geraldton, stocking stuff to cook on and around the campervan at the different campervan parks we used.

Freezing my everything off doing this while the Mrs sleeps in the campervan at the lighthouse carpark.

detouring to see a pink lake before Kalbarri.

 

[FearNoFish]

Visiting the Kalbarri National Park to do some shoot.

which I naturally overshot on timing and had to crawl back on dirt roads on a not so suitable heavy campervan but stealing a chance to do some more shoot anyway.

and more detour along the way back to Perth just to see how modern wind mills work...

and finally taking this photo at the overshot Crawley Boat Shed in Perth before rushing to meet a friend for Fish and Chips!

 

[Angus Siew]

Great trip you must have had! A pity xmas island had clouds when you were taking your nightshots.

The Crawley Boat Shed is the nicest pic to me. Haha.

 

[nuts]

Thanks for sharing these images Simon!
Perhaps you could also share the logistics & costs of getting to xmas island?
Thanks!

 

[pinholecam]

Nice log of your travels.
I enjoyed looking at the picts and reading the tid-bits of info.

 

[FearNoFish]

Some logistics to share & perhaps my humble recommendations.

There are at current 2 ways to fly to Christmas Island. One is to head to Jakarta first then fly Christmas Island Air to Xmas Island, while the other is to land in Perth first then fly Virgin Australia from Perth to Xmas Island.

As I have friends in Perth and logically speaking, feels like more things to do in Perth and surrounds, so I took the SG-Perth-XmasIsland route. Doing so will allow you a extended holiday if you do decide to do Perth and surrounds up north or south before flying to Xmas Island or after. Flights from Perth to Xmas Island and back (approx sgd900 per person) seemed to cost more than a budget flight from SG to Perth and the best thing is Virgin Australia is also under Star Alliance so anyone with enough miles can also redeem the Perth-XmasIsland return flights. That is exactly what I did for the trip.

We put up at the comfortable and rather nice ocean facing "The Sunset" hotel/guesthouse. There are other villas and private properties available that one may be able to find within that price range or lower.

It is a must to rent a car to get around on the island itself and the hotels or guesthouse would be able to arrange the rental for you to pick the car up straight from the airport. If anyone were to head there, I would strongly recommend renting a proper 4x4 such as a Suzuki Vitara which I did as some of the nice little places involved some spirited adventurous driving terrain.

To catch the any of the 2 red crab migrations (2 in fact per year, one for the adults to make the journey from the forests to the sea to mate and lay eggs, one for the baby crabs to return from the ocean and back to the forests), it's best to check against the Christmas Island tourism website (https://www.christmas.net.au/) where they list out the possible spawning periods to allow you to plan a trip.

We were quite zhun and lucky to have plan and see the first migration of the adult crabs moving to the sea to lay their eggs.

Perhaps one day in the future, I can be back to see the 2nd half of the migration (which is even harder to predict) of the baby crabs emerging from the sea making their way back to the forests.

 

[nuts]

Thanks for all the info Simon!

 

[voux]

Love the photos, especially the night start trails & jetty/boat shed!

Did you visit Southern WA like Busselton, Albany, etc too?