"Christmas Island" a Christmas Island Travel Page by Kokki

Christmas Island was named after the Christmas Tree. The first settlers of the island imported it, together with the rest of their things in large cardbord boxes. Christmas Island is a small island located in the Indian Ocean, 2600 km northwest of Perth in Western Australia, and 500 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia.

The island has a unique natural topography. It is of great interest to scientists due to the great number of species of endemic flora and fauna. 65% of the island's 135 square km are now a National Park. There are large areas of rainforest.

As of 2006, the estimated population is 1,493. They are 70% Chinese, 20% European, and 10% Malay. The major religion is Buddhism, but there are also Christians. It was the Christians who made the Christmas Tree the national symbol of Christmas Island. English is the official language, but Chinese and Malay are also spoken.

The 1,600 residents of Christmas Island live in a number of small places on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove, Silver City, Kampong, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.

Christmas Island has one high school, called Christmas Island District High School. It is located on the island. The island also has one public library with several books, many of them related to Christmas.

The most well-known authors of Christmas Island are the twin sisters Mary and Joy Christmas. They left the island in 1996 to continue their writing career on Easter Island.

In 2001 the Australian Government wanted to build a commercial spaceport on the island. The spaceport has not yet been constructed. And it probably won't be in the future.
In the meantime the island's major export items are handcrafted Christmas cards.

I stayed on the island for Christmas several years ago. I tried to introduce Mämmi as a new Christmas dessert. I was hoping it would become a sales hit with the local bakery. My idea did not catch on. I think that Mämmi was not very well liked among the locals.