Cooktown

In June of 1770, Cooktown became the site of Australia's first non indigenous settlement, when Captain James Cook anchored his ship, The Endeavour, on the banks of its river. (The river later became known as the Endeavour River!) Captain Cook and his crew spent 48 days here while they repaired damage to his ship which had earlier struck a reef off Cape Tribulation. It was during this time that Joseph Banks, the chief naturalist on this voyage, named the kangaroo. Aren't I just a wealth of information?

There is a plaque near the river which (as shown above) shows us where abouts Captain Cook stepped onto Australian dirt for the first time. The plaque reads "THIS CAIRN MARKS THE SPOT WHERE CAPTAIN JAMES COOK BEACHED HIS BARQUE H. M. S. ENDEAVOUR ON THE 18th OF JUNE 1770"

I can see why Captain Cook stayed here for so long (besides the fact his ship was being repaired!). The view from Grassy Hill was spectacular and oh so peaceful.

Driving up the hill was probably one of the most hilarious things we have done in a long while. The track (no sealed section here!) was at least a 50 degree angle (maybe more) and very, very bumpy. It was not made for a 2WD 4-door Utility to go up. The three of us laughed practically the whole way up. I'm not sure if it was because of nerves or because it was just so damn funny! You should have heard Monet in the back going "Whoa!!! Bumpidy-bump-bump" then giggling away...

We stayed at the only resort in town (of course!), the Sovereign, which was pretty nice. The three of us stayed in the same room which consisted of a single and a queen-sized bed. Have you ever slept in a room with a 2 1/2 year old who had her own bed? That was another hilarious thing we laughed and laughed at. Talk about one excited little girl. (And two extremely proud parents!)

Before bedtime though, we had explored the 'main drag' of Cooktown. Lots of old, beautiful buildings but not a lot happening. To say the least it was very quiet, but we had expected that. With a population of now of 1600 people it is full of 4WD vehicles which gather outside the one pub at one end of the street. I think the rest of the town spent their afternoon/evening fishing down at the lovely wharf. Cooktowns population once reached 30,000 with 94 pubs!! 94 pubs!!! Now, there is just one. And we didn't even have a drink from there! (I know, sooo unlike us!) Oh well.

When we set out for dinner at a swanky (well, as swanky as Cooktown gets!) restaurant down by the wharf, we saw the most spectacular sunset. One that I will remember (hopefully) forever. The last time I saw such an amazing sunset, was in Edinburgh in 1997. True. I'm sure you'll agree with me that it was pretty impressive (such vivid gorgeous colours!) Even the restaurant staff stopped for 10 minutes to watch, the waitress said.

Our meal was delicious (mine was Coral Reef Trout on Coconut and Orange infused rice!) and the Heineken's which we washed down with them were just as delightful.

We spent the morning being eaten half to death by the tiny little sand flies down at the playground (my legs are covered in awful itchy bites - worse than bloody chicken pox they are!) and the little girl who spent the most time playing in there only got 3 bites. Typical.

We walked around and then exited Cooktown at about 10am, not before having a peek at the peaceful Quarantine Bay just down the road...

We enjoyed Cooktown and we're all very glad we went. It made us, well, me anyway, very appreciative of our Country. I'm thankful for the opportunity that life dishes out to us sometimes, to explore and travel. I would have never have thought two years ago that I would ever see Cairns, let alone Cooktown for that matter and now look at us!!

Stay tuned for the detour we took, 35 kilometers south of Cooktown. Heehee.