Christmas in July is here so head to Christmas Island before the snow starts flying!
Christmas Island is a dot in the Indian Ocean, located 2600km north-west of Perth, Western Australia. Even though it is an Australian Territory, its closest neighbour is Java, 360km away.
Christmas Island is the summit of a submarine mountain, rising steeply to a central plateau dominated by stands of rainforest. This plateau reaches heights of up to 361 metres and consists mainly of limestone and layers of volcanic rock.Geologists believe that about 60 million years ago the cone of an undersea volcano surfaced, forming a basin on which a coral atoll then began to form. More then 20 million years ago, the atoll appears to have sunk slowly and limestone was deposited as the coral began to build up. Ten million years later, this process stopped and an island began to emerge from the sea in a series of uplifts. Each of the island terraces was formed by the development of the fringing reef and sea cliff erosion before being uplifted. The lagoon drained and the central plateau was formed. Evidence of these volcanic origins can be seen at The Dales, and Dolly Beach where the basalt rock is exposed, forming the bed of freshwater streams.
