Cooktown

We did it, we made it in to Cooktown, arriving on Tuesday afternoon. This is a great little town, but ever so windy. We found a great little caravan park right in the centre of town so we can walk everywhere we like.

On Wednesday we went out with a guy in his tinny up the north arm of the Endeavour River to spot crocodiles. Well we spotted about 4 of the BIG ones and Mark (the driver of the boat) would almost park the tinny on the bank beside the monsters. But the most delightful thing was seeing the baby crocs. We saw a few, just resting on floating branches and they would not have been more than about a foot long. When they saw us they would talk fright and slide into the water only to resurface a few feet away.

On Thursday we went out to near Laura via the back roads, some were very corrugated - but it is like Pitt Street out there it seemed at times. Out of the dust would appear yet another 4 wheel drive loaded up to the hilt and driving like there is no tomorrow - thank heaven school holidays end up here this weekend.

Later in the afternoon we met up with an aboriginal elder, Willie, and he took us and another 4 people, into the bush to show us some rock art and to tell us stories from his tribe, from the dreamtime and also his beliefs and philosophies. He was a wonderful story teller and we thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours spent in his company.

Today we drove down the Bloomfield Track to Wujal Wujal Falls on the Bloomfield River. The falls were flowing very nicely (as above photo). The famous Bloomfield Track from here to the river is in far better condition than my driveway!!! For the most part it is sealed and the dirt sections are pretty good. It is the section from the Daintree to Bloomfield that is a bit dickie so when we leave we will head back the long way on the sealed road.

Tomorrow we plan to stay in town to visit a few places we have yet to see here and, would you believe, the replica Endeavour arrived here this afternoon and will be here tomorrow as well, so we plan to check it out. Of course you all remember don't you that Capt Cook beached the Endeavour here for repairs all those years ago. Yep, I knew you remembered.

Sunday we are out of here and will base ourselves in Mossman for a few days.