cocos island
When watching TV in July of 2020, peak of Western Australia’s covid-19 outbreak an ad came on Tv that sparked anger, that would soon eventuate into booking flights. The AD was a video from tourism Western Australia, a display of Cocos Island’s most picturesque scenes. Meanwhile, i’m annoyed as to why channel 7 is advertising international travel during a pandemic. Mum points out that the island is apparently in our home state of WA and I get googling. A week later our flights are booked and so is the air bnb (the only accomodation left!).
We arrived Friday 19th, greeted by the shortest runway and blue waters I had a feeling this was going to be a relaxing week of book reading and sunbathing, exactly what I needed after a uni semester and hectic work schedule. We stayed at NinetySixEast, a homestay found on either cocos’ tourism website or booking.com and whilst i’d say likely on the pricey side of accommodation on the island we absolutely scored with beach-front views, a 3-course breakfast served every morning upon request, a beach buggy to get us around and 1-1 service you just wouldn’t get anywhere else. The cost of the trip was worth it when I was sipping a coffee watching the turtles and sharks swim by each morning from my front porch, only to have the same experience in the evening, except with a cheeky bev rather than a coffee.
The week was spent exploring West island (where we were staying and where the airport is) and it’s neighbouring islands Home (the only other inhabited island in Cocos), and Direction Island (D.I, as the locals call it). Cocos is not somewhere you come for an adventure filled time, and i’d even suggest against bringing young kids. Be prepared to spend your days at a slow pace, going for walks and reading books. The island(s) is controlled by the tides, its low (~0.4) at 8:30am and its high (~1.6) not coming in until around 4pm in the afternoon, making it very difficult to snorkel, or even swim for most of the day. The water is that low my hands were scratching the corally surface every stroke. Don’t be disheartened, there’s still a bunch of holes to swim at across the reef at Pulu Maraya, a small but very cute island 100 odd metres off the beach of Scout park, one of West islands most popular beaches. In between scout park and Pulu Maraya is the infamous drift snorkel, where (as long as you do it at high tide, around 5pm, you’ll drift with the current along with the dozens of turtles and black-tip reef sharks, oh and a crap load of fish too).
Further south than Scout park is the yacht club, where the kite surfers come to play when the sea breeze and tide is in. It’s also where we ended up setting ourselves up with a book and bev each day, purely due to the lack of coral making it easier to dip in when the sun got too hot. The peak of the island is just around the corner of scout park and is where we went in the evenings, stood in hip depth water and waited for the turtles and sharks to come in to the reef. It was magical and i’m pretty sure I cried on more than one occasion.
Our airbnb was in the centre of town, as is every single other accommodation option and house, and restaurant, oh and airport. Due to the shape of west island everything is forced into being in a super small area in the middle, with the secluded beaches and one stray cafe on the points either side. The airport, is unfenced, due to the unique nature of the community and the small area that cocos has to begin with. Houses are literally on the runway, separated by a single lane road. Hilarious. You can’t cross the runway though, for very obvious reasons.
When you arrive at the airport, be prepared for a personal speech by 1 of the 2 policeman on the island, confirming the road rules, runway rules and lack of service. Our bags arrived in the baggage trolley and we collected them ourselves. West island really is very cute, there’s wifi at the pub, airport (Cafe) and we had wifi at our accomodation too, however were usually having too much fun to want it. My favourite cafe was The Barge, a family home, the furthest South home on the island, away from the main town. There’s the boat itself, which has been transformed into a cafe and shop, there’s an art gallery and an outdoor cinema. The views is what is the best, you couldn’t get closer to the beach if you tried.
Home island is the only other inhabited island on cocos, in which there’s 26 islands in total. It’s a short 20 minute ferry trip there, with a ferry timetable of your dreams, every hour or so. On home island, the water is beautiful and the locals are lovely, everyone here is from Malay descent, living in the cutest little village. There’s three times the amount of accommodation here compared to West island, and there’s 5 times the population. There’s a primary school, with the high school on west, and the famous Oceania house, home to the clunies-ross family, who were gifted the island from the queen back in 1827.
Really, everything here is slow paced, un-touched and raw. Materialism just isn’t a part of life here, as materials themselves are so hard to get. The ship comes every 6 weeks and so running out of food, clothes, nappies etc. just can’t happen, and even then the ship sometimes can’t even come due to weather.
In terms of weather, Cocos is a tropical paradise, with tropics comes rainfall. Cocos is known for heavy rainfall all year round, with it slowing down in september, october. But with temperatures averaging 30 degrees and humidity at 80%, a little rain is appreciated, at least it was when we were there. It rained 3 days, but even then it was on and off and the sun shone after a couple of minutes anyways.
By the time the week was up, a cancelled flight later and an extended trip too (no complaints and warning this happens often), i had read 4 books and took wayyyy too many photos. I was excited for fresh fruit and veg back home but island life really is as amazing as it sounds. Definitely recommend heading to Christmas island on the way home, but not for as long. And during crab season!!