I have always wanted to go to this fascinating island, which supposedly used to belong to Singapore!!

To tell you the truth, I have never heard of this island till I dated an Australian Chinese guy (about 12 yrs ago) who was born on this island and is now based in Singapore. I actually thought he was kidding when he told me that he’s from Christmas island, I instantly thought “what a fancy name for an island”!! Both of his parents used to be “Singapore” citizens but because the island was sold to Australia later on, they have become “Australia” citizens even before he was born. Of course he grew up in all things Australian culture and speaks with a strong Australian accent, and now with a slight Singaporean accent ;)

Ahem, the Singapore govt must be eating their heart out now having to give up another precious piece of land, due to the scarcity of land here. I heard the Australian government had paid the government of Singapore £2.9 million in compensation in 1957.

Like Singapore island, this external territory of Australia, has population of 70% Chinese, 20% European and 10% Malay. English is the official language, but Chinese and Malay are also spoken.

I still remember him showing me pics of his home in Christmas island~the housing pretty much looks a bit like those zinc roof old style housing in Singapore in the 70s..and pics of thousands of red crabs (usually during nov period ) that crawl onto his home and backyard like nobody’s business :P…These are also known as land crab too, because they literally do come onto the land and surround you, and oh so strikingly red and cute!!

This island unquestionably has a wide range of unique and unusual species and habitats, which makes it very fascinating for me to visit in the near future.

( Attached pics of whale shark and red crabs )