Mossman

Today is Monday 20th July and in Mossman it’s a public holiday - why? - it’s the annual Show. It’s on for 2 days and we went and had a look before we left for Cooktown. Some of the highlights were the show jumping with a bevy of young lasses in tight white jodhpurs trotting around the oval on their frisky ponies which often, when it was their turn to go over the jumps, refused and had to have a smack with the whip - the pony not the rider! Then there was a selection of sugar cane with a prize for the best sample, sheep shearing, wood chopping, snake handling, and of course the flowers, preserves and arts and crafts not to mention the trained ducks. A delightful traditional country show. We also visited the weekend market and bought lots of beautiful organic fruit and vegetables, the locals supply the trendy restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne and the quality of their produce is first class, of course no water shortages here and organic and biodynamic farming is a big feature.
We left the coast and crossed the Great Dividing Range and then headed north to Cooktown, which nestles between Mount Cook and the mouth of the Endeavour River. In 1770 Lt James Cook, in desperate need of a safe haven, beached the Endeavour and named the river after his ship. In later years gold was discovered nearby and the town prospered but languished at the end of the gold rush and has had to survive two devastating cyclones. It has become popular with tourists because of its pristine waters and beautiful scenery.
The average winter temperature here is a high of 26 and low of 20, so it’s pretty nice, just a tad humid at this time of the year. We were just settling in when L spotted some local fauna about 10 metres from our tent, a big goanna, which I am pleased to report seemed shy and promptly ran up a tree.