Cooktown

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My favourite place so far but was the start of David's.  The drive up to Cooktown was spectacular but the drive down the other side was a memorable life experience (David's favourite).  

Going up the Mulligan Highway we were lucky to meet a couple of cars an hour. 


On the Bloomfield Track (https://www.destinationdaintree.com/locations/the-bloomfield-track) we met loads of vehicles - all going the other way - up to Cook Town.  Donald/Sam - I have put the link in as you are both so going to want to do this - if you haven't already.  Although we did this in an AWD and we have heard of some nutters do it in a 2-wheel drive - it really needs a 4WD.  Anyway more about that later!

Cooktown

It is such a smaller, quieter town than I expected.  Being a huge Captain James Cook fan from my early teens I wanted to see it all!  



Grassy Hill had amazing views from all aspects.  David took a panoramic photo.




Botanical Gardens


Finch Bay - Cooktown is surrounded by water, all of which is crocodile infested so you have warnings everywhere.  However you also have the most beautiful beaches and river banks which are very tempting and often deadly.  Finch Bay is one such and therefore our pictures are taken a long way from the water!!

Reconciliation Rocks 



Cook Town Museum

The Cooktown museum is shut on Monday so put on hold until the next day.  Cooktown is surrounded by mango trees which anyone can pick and the museum was covered in them.  The building is lovely and was a Sisters of Mercy school for a long time up until the 2nd World War when it fell into disrepair.  The Cooktown council bought it and renovated it to its former glory and it now has a three fold use: gives a history of the town; gives a history of the school and what I was interested in was Captain Cook and the Endeavour's history.  It houses the original anchor and one of the cannons as well as an amazing scaled down version of the Endeavour.  Unfortunately our photos aren't good as they are behind glass.



We stayed at Gekko Guest House which was just lovely.  Diane gave us some great suggestions of where to stop when we drove the Bloomfield Track which will follow in the next post.






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