Yikes!! I Think I Have Crabs!!

Well not really.... Actually if I saw as many crabs as they have in the annual crustacean migration on Christmas Island, I think I'd scream.  Apparently there are so many crabs that traverse the land to get to the sea, that park rangers have had to setup special barricades to let them cross the roads on their ocean quest.  Did you know that the shells of these clawed creatures can puncture tires?  Me either.  Yet hard shelled long legged crawlers don't make up the main reason as to why I add Christmas Island to my bucket list; the natural beauty of the island and its sheer uniqueness make up most of my interest to visit this place. 

One thing that I discovered about this little lush paradise is that out of the 52 square miles of land it's made up of, about two thirds of that is a national forest; in other words around 34 square miles is dedicated to Mother Nature and its many companions, including the millions of red crabs.  Since the population of the island is a little over 2,000 people, the crabs have definitely won the war over this territory. 

Being a backpacker this island doesn't seem to be too budget friendly unfortunately when it comes to lodging.  Out of the less than a half dozen towns, there exist just about seven or so hotels mostly all found on the main settlement named the Flying Fish Cove.  Did you just read the word settlement?  But of course!  A very brief history of this place is as follows: Christmas Island was found on none other but Christmas Day in 1688 by the British.  Fast forward to the 1950's and the island was essentially bought by Australia and remains part of its territory to this day.  One big thing though that Christmas Island became quite useful for was its phosphate; so as not to get lost in the science of it all, phosphate is used in too many ways to write down now.  Once it was realized the potential gold mine that the land had to offer, the Flying Fish Cove was erected and thus began the growth of the land.

Besides crabs and chemistry, this land has beautiful landscape to be seen and explored!!  From the gorgeous sea shore to its volcanic backdrop.  I also probably forgot to mention that the island used to be a volcano.  The highest point on the island is at the plateau of Murray Hill, about 1,171 feet above sea level.  The lush terrain offers so much to the nature minded soul and seeing that the island is scarcely populated, the natural makeup has not been too disturbed besides the occasional deaths of red crabs by vehicular homicide.  From fishing to snorkeling and surfing, this isolated paradise offers all kinds of adventures, as long as you're not as aquatically inept like me.

I definitely want to keep this location on my list of backpacking travels and as a date becomes more available to visit, hopefully more lodging options will appear for the everyday backpacker.  Again though, with such a small population present, I doubt that besides depending on the generosity of residents and the non existence of hostels, hotels will continue to be the only form of lodging the island has to offer.  You can camp however with a permit in two locations: Dolly Beach and Pink House Research Station.  I imagine that since most of the land is considered a national park, one could probably camp anywhere they'd like, but I'd honestly not recommend it.  Even though it's illegal (I've never seen that as a reason for stopping many would be campers) the animal life and environment could possibly not work in your favor.  If I were to ever camp there, I'd do a lot of research into the natural ebb and flow of the majority of the critters that wander the park AND I'd not camp alone.

All in all, Christmas Island would be more of an additional Australian adventure for me, tacking it on to an overall trip to the land down under.  There are weekly flights to the island from Australia so it's totally doable in my book and just one more adventure to add onto my Aussie adventure backpacking merit badge!!