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Published: August 8th 2006
The James Cook Museum
This former convent was built in 1889We were all inspired by our fascinating stay in Cape Tribulation and decided to try and venture even further north to Cooktown in the Cape York Peninsula. We checked first with the locals at Cape Trib whether the 4WD only Bloomfield Track was open. This track was built in 1983 and is impassable during heavy rains. We followed Cris and Claire in their Toyota (this is the sort of drive you don’t want to do on your own). Although it is a much shorter route to Cooktown in terms of distance than the Venture Mulligan Highway (300k’s) it still took us 3 hours to travel approx 100 kilometers. This journey was an adventure in itself; the extremely steep, single track twists and turns as it weaves it way through beautiful tropical rain forests in Daintree National Park. We went through several creeks, some deeper than others… and lots and lots of mud. Some parts of the road are laid in concrete as its so steep even 4WD wouldn’t make it up there in wet weather!
We drove past Wujal Wujal, an aborigine community established in 1960, originally under the control of the Lutheran Church, now it has a modern infrastructure;
The Local /Hotel
Built in 1874- a survivor of the Gold Rush days however Yalanji lores and customs are still practiced today. We made sure that we had no alcohol in our vehicles as heavy penalties apply in the far North. This is a government attempt to try and develop a brighter future for indigenous people who experience problems associated with alcohol misuse. Bloomfield is near Wujal Wujal but the falls are for looking at only -as crocs live there.
Our journey also took us past Black Mountain National Park before arriving at historic Cooktown. Cooktown (Gunggarra) stands on the river Endeavour (Annan) and marks the boundary of 2 Aboriginal nations, to the North, Guuga Yimithirr, to the south, Kuku Yalanji.
Cooktown hasn’t been hard hit by tourism yet, there are no ‘Rip Curl’ shops, famous fast food chains or trendy coffee bars, but our sense is, this is only a matter of time now that the Cairns-Cooktown bitumen road opened earlier this year, up ‘till the 1930’s apparently there was no road at all!
Cooktown is a charming, relaxed place with lovely Colonial buildings depicting architecture of a bygone era, a town once booming with the wealth of gold. This is a town where the tourist booking office is closed
The Heritage Bank Building
Built in 1891-it's now Cooktown Historical Society at weekends and a mobile number is left on the door. The busiest time of activity is early evening; locals are either fishing at the wharf which is at one end of town or drinking in the pub at the other end.
Obviously it’s steeped in history about Captain Cook, after his landing for 48 days in 1770 to repair Endeavour which ran aground at Cape Tribulation. The James Cook Museum was well worth the visit; we found it very informative and spent a long time reading some of Cook’s fascinating diary entries about the first sightings of the wild life. The elegant museum building was formerly a Convent. The 360 degree views from Grassy Hill Lighthouse of the town, river and Coral Sea are impressive. Apparently, Cook climbed the hill to look for a safe passage through the reefs. During Cook’s stay, Banks collected 186 plant species from the area and Sydney Parkinson’s illustrations can be seen in the museum.
During our stay we took a walk on one of the local beaches- Finch bay was only accessible on foot via the Botanical gds. There are fishing, diving, sailing, river cruises and trips to Lizard Island. There
Queensland Womens Institute
this is also a meeting place for Alcoholics Anonymous is enough accommodation to suit all budgets and a few restaurants. We enjoyed fish and chips at the wharf from -Gill’d n Gutt’d!
It would have been great to have gone to right up to Cape York but this journey needs a lot of planning and equipment to do it safely, it was great to see intrepid travellers with their tailor made 4WD equipment configurations!
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Claire and David White
non-member comment
Great to hear your news again
Hi John and Steph - many thanks for another blog as it is so interesting to hear all about your travels. Keep 'em coming! Hope you are both well Claire