Christmas Island and Port Gregory 2022

Getting there

COVID had changed procedures for going to the Indian Ocean Territories - you had to request permission and declare negative RATs before leaving and after a couple of days on the island. This was quite easy to do on-line. One thing that hasn't changed is the very high prices of food on the island. Most people take a polystyrene box full of fresh fruit and vegetables, or a similar box of frozen foods, both to keep costs down and because the islands can run out of perishable goods and it is advisableto take your own. We knew to do this and had packed a box full of the things we would want for ten days.

The trip didn't start out well. The passengers were all at the airport, waiting in a long snaking line, but Virgin simply didn't open up their counters, and when they finally did they only put on two staff to book us all in. It obviously wasn't going to work, and nor did it. We had a one-and-a-half hour delay taking off.

We had been warned (by the Christmas Island Tourism office) to take anything we really needed as hand luggage, because Virgin arbitrarily choose to not load passenger luggage on their flights to the Indian Ocean Islands. They have a system that allows you to declare one item of your booked-in luggage as "priority"; we only had one item each, so that was our priority. We carried had most of our clothes and toiletries in our cabin luggage, but our skindiving gear and food had to go in the hold. Sure enough, when we got to Christmas Island, late and a little bit grumpy, we waited for our luggage but none of it came. All three of us missed out, and our fresh food was somewhere in Perth airport - not in cool storage but just pushed off to the side, along with the baggage for at least two dozen families. There was no announcement from Virgin, nor any apology or explanation. It was left to the bagage handlers to tell us that no more luggage was coming - we would have to wait for the next flight, scheduled for three days away. In the event, bad weather delayed that flight, and it was four days before any of us got our luggage. When we went to pick up our bags there was no-one from Virgin there, no-one organising or informing the increasingly unhappy passengers what was going on, as we waited for well over an hour to be finally let into the building to find our bags. We could manage reasonably well without our things, although it cost us a great deal to replace the food, but there were people with small children and people with frozen food who had to find ways to sort out the mess that Virgin created. The Op Shop had a lot of customers!

We can only assume that Virgin takes freight, which gives them lots of additional income, at the expense of their passenger's luggage. All of our bags were well below the weight limit and weren't large, and some of the other peoples' bags were quite small - what was left behind seemed to be arbitrary - just whatever was on a couple of trolleys.

Months after our return from Christmas Island we finally got a few hundred dollars compensation from Virgin for the extra expense the delayed luggage involved. We had to provide receipts for everthing, they wanted documentation which we had no way of getting, and they asked for the same paperwork over and over again before finally accepting our claim. In the end we felt that it was not about the money any more; we just did not want them to avoid responsibility by treating us in a way which seemed to us to be designed to get us to give up.

The holiday

We'd booked Airbnb with Nigel at Ocean View Apartments. It is a rather ramshackle set of buildings across from the foreshore, easy walking distance to the supermarket, tavern and bakery. Nigel provided a service above and beyond expectations. Skindiving gear didn't arrive - just pick some up from the big piles in his apartment; bikes came with each apartment; need a skindiving companion? Nigel can do that too, as well as tell you about festivals and other activities you can join in. In addition he put on a free meal for all his guests - a chance to meet everyone and have a chat. The apartment and the car we'd hired (Rav4 4-wheel drive) both worked very well for us. A bonus at the apartment was our daily gecko check - it appeared in the muesli packet each morning, despite all our attempts to make things gecko-proof.

The weather wasn't great - perfectly warm enough, but overcast and large swells coming into Flying Fish Cove with waves big enough to surf over the reef. We were there to skindive, but we spent the first half of our holiday well away from the water. Since Carmel hadn't been to the island we visited old favourites - the Grotto, Lily Beach, Greta and Dolly beaches and the Dales - as well as seeking out numerous temples built in the most unlikely of places. There are quite a number of constructed walkways allowing you to go to places without endangering the crabs; they dig their burrows all through the rainforest and any unwise deviation off the track will risk destroying them.

Once the weather calmed down and the swells dropped down to something we could cope with we managed a few days of skindiving off the beach at Flying Fish Cove. We didn't see any lion fish this time, and corals have been sadly diminished, but there were some new coral colonies getting established and each day there were thousands of brightly-coloured fish to enjoy.

Our last morning was a return to wet weather - a total downpour!

Observations over time...

While Christmas Island was its own beautiful self it does show signs of climate change, and some wear and tear. The always reliable winds are no longer reliable; it has been very dry, and there was a big coral death a few years back which has altered the reef in Flying Fish Cove. We also noticed a lot more rubbish washing up on the beaches - there is the usual mess at Greta Beach, but Dolly Beach now shows more rubbish all along its length. We were also surprised by the fact that while there are a LOT more tourists on the island there are less eating places, making it more difficult to eat out while you are there. It can also be difficult to hire a car if you haven't pre-booked.

On the other hand, the islanders are very helpful when things go wrong, and everyone was aware of the luggage fiasco with Virgin (it happens all the time) and happy to help out when families asked for assistance. If you can't hire a car ask around - someone might know someone who can help. It is still a wonderful place to visit!

Once back in Perth we spent a few days visiting friends, then headed north to Port Gregory, having booked a chalet at the caravan park. We'd never been there before - you just drive up to Northhampton then take the road in to the coast.

We stopped at Dongara for lunch and I had one of the best honey prawns I've ever been served - it was at "Poppies at the Park" in the middle of town and they instantly made me view Dongara in a different and glowing light. Then we were off to Port Gregory.

Okay, the pink lake (Hutt Lagoon) really is pink!

You drive in past the lake; the town is tiny, and the caravan park is tucked behind the store, an easy couple of minutes walk to the beach.

Geoff checked out the fishing, but decided against it - not so easy to clean and gut fish when you don't have the amenities of home. This was a totally chill-out holiday - no pressure to do anything.

We decided to drive up to Kalbarri for lunch on the second day, taking the coastal road and driving into the coast at every opportunity. There were lots of short walks along the clifftops and beautiful coastline to see. We were also lucky to see a number of kestrels hunting along the coast and the wildflowers were in bloom, clinging to the harsh rocks. Kalbarri iself was a real disappointment. We have, of course, been there before, but we were specifically driving up for lunch and there was nothing much available - just a pastie from the bakery and not even a cup of coffee; we drove back to Port Gregory and made our own.

Geoff had never been inside the cathedral at Geralton, so we took time on the homeward journey to call in to see it. We also stopped at Dongara again, this time for mid-morning coffee. Again, it provided a great cafe (Seaspray, down at the beach) and we came away declaring Dongara as the culinary capital of our holiday.

Hoping to see more wildflowers we took the Brand Highway home, with an easy drive - fairly light traffic and an easy entry into Perth.