Blogs from Cooktown, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

I got on the bus to cooktown, and was slightly taken aback by how much older everyone else was on the tour. We had a description of what we were passing all the way along the journey. It wasn't quite what I had imagined bit I still enjoyed the journey. We crossed the daintree river on a cable ferry. Once in the daintree rainforest we stopped for tea and scones, the tea was grown in the rainforest and was very nice. We continued on the journey and not long had to turn on the 4wheel drive, the track became very bumpy and much less comfortable, but the views of the rainforest were wonderful. We stopped at the lions den for lunch before continuing onto normal roads, we passed the black mountains and into cooktown. We headed ... read more

Well, dreary skies and tiredness convinced Naomi we should stay an extra day in Port Douglas, and in the afternoon the clouds lifted, gladly along with the mossies & sandflies - for a few hours anyway. Today we left at first light, down the creek passed the anchored boats reflected in the still water and out into the sea which was quite calm - surprising as there was strong wind warning issued for today. The batteries needed a charge so didn’t mind motoring for a while and we had a light norwesterly breeze so put up the sails which help steady us against the roll from the mild swell. We reached Snapper Island and the mouth of the Daintree River when the wind dropped out completely. Naomi woke from a bit of extra sleep in the ... read more

Since tuesday, one day has followed the next as we swing in this endlessly windy anchorage, but the batteries are staying well charged from the wind generator. Every day we take a trip ashore, through the chop and usually get some salt spray over us. We could have left three days ago but something always seems to stop us. Yesterday we had to print up a document for this years boat insurance so visited the library. It had a new photocopier so we were able to just stick our USB stick in to print it. It also had a great selection of cool toys for Alex to play with in the play area. We walked further inland to visit the Botanical Gardens, not usually our thing but these ones are quite historical. They date from the ... read more

The Blessed Trinity (Brian Wayne and me)Cairns has really grown up and flourished in a really gradual way since I was here last -28 years ago. Wayne has never had a look at this Coral Sea jewel that sits on Trinity Bay, other than to step out into the streets of the city after a conference. So he has never had the chance to experience the people and see the spread of this town and the way the residences hug the luscious tropical valleys of the huge mountains that tower over her like a silent sentinel.... read more

Cooktown were Captain Cook hit the reef and had to come ashore and to make repairs to Endevour. A small town but with lots of history, apart from Captain Cook, with gold mining and a strong Chinese influence The musem is a must see, allow at least 3 hrs, includes narritive of Captain Cook's log while he was here, displayed on boards in chronical order day by day.Also the full history of Cooktown, a very historical town. Dotted around the town are various monuments and statues to commemerate it's history There is a hill lookout where Captain Cook looked out over the rivers and reef to determine his passage out , today it's a well defined tourist attraction and gives a good 360 deg view of the surrounds, and the view he would have see in ... read more