Caught in the Net!
Christmas Island
by Bob Kolimaga

At some point during the past summer I decided that I would write a column in December about Christmas Island. A rather clever idea so I thought. December Christmas, Red Crabs. I was busy congratulating myself and it seemed to be one of the easiest topics to research and write.

The lesson that t needed to learn was that Internet research is never as easy as it seems to be or it should be. I started by enteringhttp://www.christmasisland.com and found a long list of domain names, including Christmas Island, that are available "for license, joint venture or maybe for sale". There is an Internet industry involving the buying of web names for $35 per name. A few people with a whole lot more money than me bought the exclusive rights to tens of thousands web names which can be repurchased for often obscene amounts of money. "Christmas Island" is one such name.

I next tried using Search Engines and entered "Christmas island". Remember, almost always Search Engine enquiries give you what you want and often what you did not ask for. I sifted through the long list of entries and found some pretty good articles.

Unfortunately some of the information seemed contradictory. Complicating matters for me was the fact that these articles were peppered with references to “exotic” names like Micronesia, Gilberts, Australia, Jakarta, the Indian Ocean, and Kiribatis. Since the Holy Family nuns did not spend a lot of time on these names during geography class, I knew I was in big trouble.

Out of desperation I decided to become more organized in my approach so I referenced world map locations. It was at http://www.omnimap.com that I learned "THERE ARE TWO CHRISTMAS ISLANDS; ONE A POSSESSION OF AUSTRALIA, AND THE OTHER IN THE KIRIBATIS. Please be careful to order the correct map for your needs." Recall if you can the beer commercial of a number of years ago in which a guy fantasized about "Wouldn't it be great if… and the Swedish Bikini Team instantly appeared. Being somewhat older now and less wistful, I can only lament that I yearn for an Internet where all Search Engines uniformly respond to a "Christmas Island" search with a single screen saying: "There are two Christmas Islands ... please select the Australian or the Kiribatis Christmas Island." I won't be expecting either of the two fantasies mentioned here to come true soon.

Christmas Island, Australia is in the Indian Ocean, south of Java. The island has an area of 135 square miles and the population estimates that I have found range from 800 to 2500, mostly Chinese, Malays, and some Europeans. In October during the Red Crab (Gecaroidea natalis http://www.christmas.net.au/parks/crabs/intro.html) "invasion" the inhabitants are outnumbered by about 150,000 to 1 if you use the population of 800 figure. People have no choice but to make way for the crabs and to adjust to them. Since Red Crabs are a protected species, large vats of crab soup are out of the question! Golf courses have rules in place in case a ball hits a crab. Stone "cattle shoots" not unlike the traffic detours on US highways are erected to funnel the crabs away from the mainstream of island life. One article reminds visitors to make sure that they wear boots.

The "other" Christmas Island is one of the 33 Republic of Kiribati islands which are spread out over 2 million square miles in the Southwest Pacific ocean. "Christmas Island is world-class. 250 square miles of coral sand, iridescent lagoons and coconut palms what seems like one of the smallest places on earth is actually a geographical giant, the planet’s largest coral atoll." (from http://www.trussel.com/kir/xmasi.htm) Villages have names like London, Poland, and Paris, courtesy of a variety of settlers to this equatorial wonderland.

Unfortunately the serenity was upset by WWII action and again in 1956-57 when Americans and the British conducted H-Bomb tests over the ocean, only 35 miles away.

Still the descriptions of this peaceful place still sound the same as the conditions found on Christmas Eve, 1777 when Captain Cook's landing party came ashore.