19 – 20 August Cooktown

19 – 20 August

Cooktown

Finally we have reached the furthest point of our travels – Cooktown. We have to pinch ourselves to realise that we are actually here. After being spoilt at the lovely quiet caravan park of Bustard Downs, we decided to avoid the busy town centre caravan parks and camp outside of Cooktown at Endeavour Falls. It is approx. 34km outside of Cooktown over a bumpy dirt road (which we didn’t realise when we booked). It is once again a very quiet caravan park and we have no neighbours. Indeed there are only 3 – 4 other camps set up. (It is also the most difficult campsite to get into. With palm trees lining each campsite and both sides of the road it was almost impossible for Darryl to reverse into!) The downside is we have no reception, so will have to post these blog entries and check email when we go into town. We will stay here until Thursday morning.

Is there a padlock there somewhere?

Celebrating our arrival at Cooktown.

 Cooktown must have heard we were coming as they put on a special parade with the airforce walking down the main street with their swords drawn and also a fly-over! (Darryl thought it was wonderful to have an opportunity to photograph such an event.)

The whole town came out for the parade.

This is a lovely quiet and beautiful area. Everyone seems to be very friendly. We spoke with an indigenous artist who had a display outside the Arts Centre. She shared her life story of how she has found healing from depression through her painting. She also explained the symbolism which she used in her paintings …. circles for waterholes, dots for lands, strokes for people etc. Later in the day, when Merril was sitting waiting for Darryl to finish photographing the parade, she walked past and continued the conversation about her sales and upcoming markets. (A new best friend??)

From the lighthouse / Cook’s lookout we did a steep walk through the bush down to Cherry Tree Cove. A very picturesque secluded beach.

Cherry Tree Cove

When we came back to our van at the end of the day, there was a large palm frond on the ground. Our neighbour advises that we are incredibly lucky. As we drove out in the morning, the frond fell 30 metres from the palm tree “like a torpedo” and landed with an almighty crash right where the bonnet of the car was. He said that our car would have been "completely totaled" if it had still been there! How fortunate were we? Fingers crossed no more fronds fall while we are here.