Cooktown

What a dream to get here! It was the place where Captain Cook ended up stranded on the beach for a while and had so much interesting information in his ship journal of the place. He had to climb up the hill to get his bearings and we were able to climb that exact hill to the Captain Cook Monument and see what he saw when he got there. He wrote about the native people and the fact that they seemed perfectly happy in their “paradise” and that they needed nothing. Captain Cook and his mates on the ship tried to give them clothes and other household items but the people took them, looked them over and then dumped them and carried on with what they were doing. They had no use for them.

When we got there we found it a little hotter than Atherton but still very pleasant as it was only the middle of October.

The first place we stayed was in a little place by a river that was infested with crocodiles. We parked far away from the river. Unfortunately Papa could not get good reception to work with so we only stayed one night and then spent the rest of the next day in the town. We stayed in the Library and then went to explore the Captain Cook Monument/Grassie Hill and Botanical Gardens. We had wanted to drive a little further to explore some more waterfalls and hikes, however there was not much time for that.

Our stay was short but it was exciting to be in the most northern part of our trip of far North Queensland!