Cooktown was our 'base' while we galavanted around Cape York, and where we left the caravan during our trip.
Cooktown is a very small town with a very big history. There are many museums to view, and you can even check out the actual anchor from James Cook's Endeavour, as well as learn about the amazing journey it took to find and haul in the rusted, barnacle-laden piece of iron.
Cooktown also has a very beautiful botanical garden, and its visitor's centre has a permanent exhibition of Joseph Banks botanical illustrations which are stunningly beautiful and intricate.
We aso enjoyed dining here - the Bowls Club is packed to capacity every night, and Jase gorged on a feed of sticky beef ribs while I supped on a fishermen's basket.
We also tried fishing off the rocks near the wharf but only littlies were caught.
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| The flowers in the Cooktown Botanical Garden. |
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| Botanical Gardens visitors centre |
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| Can you spot the little bird? |
After returning to Cooktown from the Cape, we ventured out for a day of drivign, and enjoyed the very windy and long track in the Misty Mountains and even got as far as the Daintree Village, but it was too late in the day for us to venture across the river via ferry to enjoy the Daintree itself. The Village is a meek excuse of a town, being a caravan park and a string of "visitors centres" (aka souvenirs shops and tour booking offices).
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| The river at Daintree Village. |
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| The ferry which leads you to the road to the Daintree |
We also drove to Port Douglas, mostly just to see what all the fuss is about because it seems that lots of Melburnians talk about it. Well, now that we've been, we can tell you that Port Douglas is chockers with resorts and middle aged rich people... and that's about it!!! We enjoyed walking along the mariner - in many places you can walk right up to million-dollar boats and even touch them if you're game, and the posts and beams under the water are covered with scallops (not that you'd eat any fish that lives in a mariner).
The boardwalk has a few nice restaurants and we spoilt ourselves to a delicious lunch: Jase ate perch while I chose the linguine marinara.
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| The restaurant on the mariner at Port Douglas |
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| Mmmmmm linguine marinara..... *drool* |
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| The view of Port Douglas from the lookout at the top of a nearby hill - tropical paradise |
Well, back on the road... towards Palm Cove... and hopefully towards better fishing.....
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| The Great Dividing Range is a pain the bum to cross over with the caravan in tow... but check out the view!!!! |
This is the Desailey Range: Garry cycled up this climb when we cycled up to Cooktown from Cairns. It's the most fabulous view coming back, but riding up it is a killer!
ReplyDeleteLove the fact that you're not only trekking the wild places, but you're also treating yourselves to the fancy restaurants - best of both worlds! Your little bird on the mirror is a male yellow-breasted sunbird: lives in mangroves and coastal tropical rainforest from Queensland to New Guinea. He eats spiders and nectar, and doesn't help his female with egg-hatching but shares feeding the chicks. How special you had one sitting on your car.
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