This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: LE VOYAGE D'AURORA - STOP#10 - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND, présentation...!

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND
Part 1

Jacques Brel has certainly found the most beautiful words to sing his "island". "An island off of hope ... an island off of love ... an island hot like tenderness," he said. No doubt, the Marquesas Islands of the Pacific were in the thoughts of the poet when he composed these few verses. But on the other side of the globe, in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, there is a string of islands that deserve to play their rhyme in this now universal melody. Because it's there that everything starts too, on the other side of the ocean, the Cocos Keeling Islands are now where Aurora is going.

A GRAIN OF DUST IN THE OCEAN

A tiny point. This is what Cocos Keeling Atoll looks like on the Indian Ocean map. Located more than 3000 km west of the Australian coast and 1000 km south of Java, the group of islands extends its land on only 14 square kilometers and contains a lagoon, much of which dries up completely during the high low tides. .

The first marine indications positioning the atoll on the maps of the European settlers date from 1609. It will then take more than two centuries for the first traces of housing to take place. In 1825, it was French, survivors of shipwrecks, who built the first huts while waiting for help. There followed a turbulent history shared between English colonization by Alexander Hare and the Clunies Ross family, sultans, devastating cyclones, reconstruction, exploitation of copra, Malay emigration, Japanese bombing, and ending in 1978 with the purchase of the atoll by the Australian government for $ 6.25 million.

Since then, the "Cocos", as they are nicknamed, are part of the Australian territories of the Indian Ocean. Around 700 souls inhabit the two main islands of the atoll. The Malays live mainly on Home Island, Australians, mostly expatriates, are located opposite the lagoon on West Island, the island also hosting the airport. The economic activity of the island is almost nil since the cessation of the exploitation of copra in the early 80s. Only tourism remains somewhat, but cannot seem to attract an Australian clientele that prefers more affordable destinations in Southeast Asia. The rhythm of life remains the one that one attributes to all the island clichés, displaying calm and nonchalance on the bottom of one of the most beautiful postcards that one can imagine.

Continue to Part 2

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THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND: Part 1, by @marc-allaria (translated from French)

This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: LE VOYAGE D'AURORA - STOP#10 - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND, présentation...!

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND Part 1

A GRAIN OF DUST IN THE OCEAN

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - COCO KEELINGS ISLAND
Part 1