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  Another holiday newsletter: COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS NEWSLETTER February 2026 If you can imagine Christmas Island as a lump of greenery with a sharp black crunchy volcanic fringe, then for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands you have to be a little more imaginative. Take a hula hoop. Break it up into 27 randomly sized pieces but lay it out to keep the circle shape. Then surround it by a coral reef and fill the inside with water and create a large lagoon.  We stayed on West Island in a comfortable house 250 metres from the seaside and 250 metres from the lagoon with a runway between us and the lagoon. And that’s the widest part of the island. Are you starting to get the picture? Christmas and Cocos Islands are nearly 1,000 miles apart in the Indian Ocean but they are connected through history and culture. Those of you who are around my age and grew up in WA will know the name Clunies-Ross. There were shocking headlines in the newspapers in the 1970s about slave labour on Cocos which w...

  I'm afraid that having holidays on tropical islands has distracted me from doing regular blog posts. I'm going to cheat with this one and just add the content from the Holiday Newsletter I've already sent out to friends. Christmas Island Newsletter  February 2026 It may seem somewhat unusual for someone like me to head off to an environment that is designed for people who love hiking, love nature, love diving. But I do like gentle walks and manageable nature and snorkelling, so the idea of a week on Christmas Island and another on Cocos (Keeling)  Islands for a summer break and a reward for Sebastian completely his PhD seemed like a good one. And of course, Sebastian does like hiking and nature.  Christmas Island (known to the locals as CI) is a series of contradictions.  While named Christmas Island by an English captain sailing past in 1643, the bigger celebrations are likely to be Chinese New Year with 20 temples scattered across the island or even Ramadan ...

  It may seem somewhat unusual for someone like me to head off to an environment that is designed for people who love hiking, love nature, love diving. But I do like gentle walks and manageable nature and snorkelling so the idea of a week on Christmas Island and another on Cocos-Keeling Island for a summer break and a reward for Sebastian completely his PhD seemed like a good one. And of course, Sebastian does like hiking and nature. The Settlement So far, a couple of days into our trip, nature has dominated from the red crabs that scuttle across the road to the monstrous Robber crabs that clamber up trees; from the brilliant green Giant Asian mantis (seen) to the equally large blind cave scorpions (not seen yet thank goodness); from the soaring frigate birds that harass other seabirds to give up their dinner to the under-threat flying fox gliding past. It’s all fascinating to watch.  Robber crab Giant Asian Mantis Erica, the 36 year old frigate bird, and friend Flying frigate...