Cooktown

Cooktown is a coastal town in the Shire of Cook, at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland. In June 1770, Captain James Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, smashed into a reef around midnight. As they were quickly sinking, Cook and his crew had to throw 50 tons of heavy ballast, spare anchors, 6 large cannons, barrels of grog, food, guns, and more overboard. Lucky for them they were close to shore, were able to fother (will let you google that) the boat and limped along for 5 days before finding a river to beach the ship and repair the seriously damaged hull. The crew of 86 sailors along with all their sheep, pigs, dogs, ducks and single goat camped along the shore for 48 days in what is now known as Cooktown and the Endeavor River.

With a population of less than 3000, Cooktown is a small town with lots of history and amenities. Its rich indigenous history goes back 50,000 years before Cook “discovered it.” It became a booming town when Chinese miners flocked here during its gold-rush glory days (pop. 30,000), then almost became a ghost town. Just 450 people lived in Cooktown in 1970 when Queen Elizabeth II sailed in on the Brittania with Prince Philip and their daughter Princess Anne to commemorate and reenact Cook’s landing 200 years before. We stood on “the Queens Steps”, built along the wharf for the Queen to disembark/embark her ship. So very regal. (Yes, that's Nutmeg behind us.)

Cooktown has a bowling green, splash pad, golf, tennis and turf clubs, art galleries, historic cemetery, Chinese shrine, Museums, Botanic Gardens with walks through to the beaches, the heritage-listed Grassy Hill lighthouse, hospital, and a new $3 million Events Centre next to the Cooktown State School, built to double as an emergency cyclone shelter for Cooktown.

We took refuge from the high winds and heavy seas in Cooktown’s shallow harbor for 5 nights. With no repairs needed to our hull (tho we did bottom out at low tide), we were able to rent a car for a couple of days (on the “sealed road”, seems they have speed bumps like Lake Shore Drive has) to do some exploring:

• Reconciliation Rocks - a group of granite boulders along the banks of the Endeavour River where the site of Australia’s first recorded act of reconciliation between First Nation peoples and Europeans – after a conflict over turtles which had been taken from sacred breeding grounds, in large numbers, and without permission from the Guugu Yimithirr Bama.

• Followed Cook's footsteps up Grassy Hill to search for a safe passage through the reefs after repairing the Endeavour - and where they saw their first “gangarru”. (Not really – we drove there. They also saw their first crocodile, flying fox, dingo and possum while beached here.) The Grassy Hill Lighthouse must be the shortest one (20’) I have ever seen!

• Searched out a few of the many waterfalls down long one-lane dirt roads. Oh, the places Google Maps can take you! Followed the Bloomfield River to Wujal Wujal Falls, the rocky trail to Trevethan Falls, and through the park’s tree-lined path to Endeavor Falls.

• The mysterious Black Mountains - an imposing yet small mountain range of massive jumbled granite boulders, home to unique wildlife and rich in Aboriginal culture. Black Mountain is a place of mystery and legend to Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, dubbed the 'Bermuda Triangle of far north Queensland’ due to stories of disappeared people, horses and whole mobs of cattle.

• Plus, we strolled through the Botanic Gardens, checked out the splash pad, art galleries, Finch Bay, ate Fish n Chips at “Gilled & Gutted”, bought some fresh prawns from the local fishermen, took showers, did some laundry, and reprovisioned at the local IGA (no turtles were taken).

The SE winds are forecast to lighten to 15 knots for a few days, then build back up to 25 knots. Seems to be a good time to weigh anchor and finally leave Cooktown.

XOXOXOXO
Gma & Gpa