Cooktown

Cooktown owes its existence to the fact that in the late 1800s gold was found nearby and a port was needed to bring in provisions, a site on the Endeavour River was selected and Cooktown was born. At one stage there were estimated to be 15,000 miners on the Palmer, 10,000 of whom were Chinese, and Cooktown catered for the influx with stores, pubs (50), and the like. When the gold ran out it meant the eventual decline of the town and now the “gold” is in tourism. At this time of the year the weather is warm and comfortable, the scenery is beautiful, plenty of clean water for fishing and generally a relaxing environment and laid back atmosphere.

And of course there is the fact that Cook spent time here in 1770. The town has a very interesting museum which has many of Cook’s artifacts including the original anchor and one of the cannons from the ship.

We have been on a visit to rock art sites in the company of a Nugalwarra Elder, Willy Gordon, who shared with us the stories the rock art depicts and the tour included a visit to an an ancestral birth cave. It was a 4 hour tour with plenty of walking and clambering up and over huge rocks so today our bodies are acknowledging the unused to exercise - can only be good - and we are catching up with chores and plan a visit to the Cooktown Botanic Gardens.

Tomorrow it’s off to Port Douglas, the Suzuki needs it’s warranty service, so it’s back to the Cairns area before we head west.