Tip of Woop Woop: 2nd & 3rd October 2016 - Saturday night in Cooktown

SATURDAY

We left Cairns early and headed north to Cooktown - "a frontier town". We stopped on the way at the Rex Lookout - we never cease to tire of the fabulous views along the coast between Cairns & Port Douglas.

The View from the Rex Lookout between Cairns & Port Douglas

Lin at Rex Lookout

I should add at this point that Cooktown, named after Capt James Cook, the explorer is situated on the banks of the Endeavour River named by Cook when he anchored there to repair his damaged ship.

We booked into the Cooktown Caravan Park not far from the centre of town. We set up camp and had a quick walk around the town which had changed little since we were last here more than 10 years ago.

Cooktown Caravan Park

The Cooktown Caravan Park was pleasant but in need of some TLC. We were allowed to camp wherever we liked in the non-powered area. The facilities were good and once again the showers were clean and hot. It was not busy. It had plenty of bush and trees so the powered camping sites were quite private.

The Main Street - Cooktown

Cooktown Main Street overlooking the Endeavour River

The main street of Cooktown runs parallel to the Endeavour River - it has a very relaxed atmosphere with quaint shops in which visitors can browse. The beautiful frangipani trees love it here - their blossoms are stunning.

While at the caravan park, we met a young Czech guy who had been sailing solo around the world. He had been blown ashore in a storm in a remote crocodile infested area 100km north of Cooktown - an area with no tracks or habitation of any kind. He had been rescued when he contacted emergency services who had advised him to sleep on his damaged boat which he had managed to unload onto the beach and refloat. They told him not to sleep on the beach to avoid the crocodiles until they could get help to him. He was hoping to find someone willing to help him return to his boat so that he could fix it up and continue his voyage. It was very interesting talking to him. When we left he was working at the caravan park trying to earn some money to repair his boat.

As it was Saturday night, we decided to have dinner at one of the local pubs so that Terry could watch the NRL match.

Tezza watching the NRL match at a pub in the main street

SUNDAY

The next morning we treated ourselves to breakfast at Cook's Landing - a local cafe located beside the water overlooking the Endeavour River estuary. It is a beautiful spot and they serve an excellent breakfast.

View from Cook's Landing Cafe

Linnie waiting for breakfast

Beautiful Tropical Trees

Tezza enjoying a coffee with some friendly locals

The guy at the end nearest the water lives on a boat on the estuary. Fifteen years ago after retiring down south, he sailed a boat up the east coast finally arriving in Cooktown. He sailed into the estuary, loved it and is still living there on his boat 15 years later despite a scary encounter with a crocodile which tried to climb into his boat! He had been alerted by Laddie, his little Jack Russel dog and using a wooden stake managed to push the croc back into the water. Amazingly, he still lives in the boat and continues to commute back & forth to land in his tiny tinnie!

The full story which took place in April, 2016 can be read at the following link:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-18/man-fends-off-castaway-crocodile-near-cooktown/

Of course in a small town like Cooktown everyone knows everyone! When we lived in Cairns in the late 1990's Terry had a good friend called Mario with whom he had lost touch. He knew Mario and his wife had moved to Cooktown so on the off-chance he asked these friendly locals if they knew someone called Mario (Terry couldn't even remember his surname). Straight away they knew who it was and gave us directions to Mario & Mina's home.

Mario & Mina were so surprised when later that morning we knocked on their door. They gave us a fabulous welcome and we spent a pleasant couple of hours catching up on all our news.

Terry and our old friends from Cairns - Mario & Mina

Next we found our way up to Cooktown's famous lighthouse at the top of Grassy Hill. Cooktown was established in 1873 but with no lighthouse it was difficult for boats to negotiate the reef. There was no overland access at that time so access by boat was the only way goods and passengers could travel to Cooktown so in 1886 the lighthouse was built. It was one of only four along the Queensland coast at that time. In 1987 the government decided to decommission the lighthouse but the local people with support from other parts of Australia rallied to save it and in 1988 the lighthouse was sold to the people of Cooktown for $100. People power triumphed once again!