Cooktown's splendors

Almost the entire morning was spent remembering James Cook, the seafaring explorer, cartographer and the man responsible for putting Australia on the map. Down on the river bank there are monuments to where the bark "Endeavour" was pulled up to the shore and repaired. The people of Cooktown have gone out of their way to make sure that every item that could be saved of that time has been preserved or even returned to Cooktown. A canon that was on board the ship was sent to them from where-ever it had been found.

Colin is standing on the top of "Grassy Hill" which is reputed to be the place that Cook stood and looked out to see the pattern of the river and coast so that he could plan his next moves. The water below Colin is that of the Endeavour River and Cook would have been anchored just below the trees in front of him.
The Botanic Gardens also had plenty of reminders of Captain Cook. I love looking through Botanic Gardens - but I am not good at remembering the names of plants! I want to share with you a couple of the pictures I took.

There were a few very large Malaleuca trees commonly known as Paperbark. The bark is soft and takes on many shade of gold and has been used artistically to make "bark paintings" which are very clever - tiny pieces of bark are stuck down to give a painted effect.

Bamboo was introduced to Australia and loves the conditions here! Colin helped to show the size of the bunch.

A pretty butterfly obliged by keeping fairly still for me, it was morning so there was still plenty of nectar in the flowers so the butterfly was having quite a feast.

One place that every visitor to this town MUST go is to the James Cook Museum. As the name suggests this museum is mostly about the man who captained the ship that landed here in 1770. I was amused that the stump of the tree to which the "Endeavour" was tied was preserved in the museum!

A very large anchor that is believed to be that of the "Endeavour" is housed behind glass along with a canon that was on board too. The anchor looks to be far too big for the size of the ship that Cook sailed in, it must have been very heavy hanging from the back of the ship - or maybe it was hauled on board. I shall have to investigate further!

A special treat for me was an outing in the company of this man, Wilfred Gordon. He takes people on tours of his country and shows off the ancient artwork that is hidden under rocky overhangs and helps his customers to understand a bit more about the Aboriginal culture of this area.We learned about some of the plants that were important to the Aborigines, about the edible ones and the toxic ones that once treated in a certain way, could be eaten. There was so much I learned and lots more I still want to know!

The artworks under the rocky shelves were almost in the dark and quite difficult to see until your eyes became accustomed to the light (or lack of it!). This picture was taken with the camera on "automatic" which meant that the pop up flash sprang into action. Although a false image because of its brightness it serves to show how much activity has gone on in this small area of about two meters. Red ochre is the crushed rock that was used for the illustrations in this area.
I shall recommend to anyone who is planning a trip to Cooktown to include a "Guurrbi Tour" by Willie Gordon. Everyone needs to learn more about the culture that many Aborigines have lost.
AJ
click on the pictures for larger images. Send any comments to joanren AT gmail.com

From Cairns to Cooktown

After picking up the hire car we “hit the road” and were soon at Port Douglas. This is a place that has blossomed so much since we first visited in the 1980s – so much so that we can hardly find anything that is the same – but we did! The little Church has not been moved or changed and we came across it just as the morning Sunday Service was starting.

 We could here the congregation singing one of the old, old hymns I remember from my childhood! “There is a green hill far away without a city wall” Remember it?

Only inches away from the little church the Sunday market was in full swing and I enjoyed our wander through the stalls and was quite tempted by one of the paintings by one of the artists – until I saw several others EXACTLY the same in different sizes! That put me off! If I am to buy an oil painting I want it to be unique!

The drive to Cooktown had me worried – we seemed to be heading South when I thought we should be going North. It is a horrible feeling not knowing if you are on the right road or not and there are no road signs to help and reassure! Fortunately there was a map in the glovebox and Colin told me that we were heading in the right direction and to stop worrying! I wasn’t happy until we reached Lakeland. Our son, Steven had told us to drive off the highway and find the coffee house.

 It is a place you wouldn’t find unless someone had told you where to look. We bought a coffee  there – locally grown and prepared and enjoyed it while sitting under the shade of the veranda.

Refreshed and alert again we continued on our long trek to Cooktown. The sight of a heap of black stones made us pull up to see what this was all about! 

 We had come across “Black Mountain” and the black stones are the solidified magma from a small volcano that had pushed up into a cone, the weather had caused the cooled material to crack and decompose between the cracks so forming lots of boulders. The black is a layer of lichen that has adhered to the rocks over hundreds of years.

From there it was only a few more minutes before we were in the famous landing place of the Explorer James Cook and the motel in which were are to stay for the next two nights. What a view we have from our window!

 Feeling as though we had been sitting down all day (well we had!) we walked the length of Charlotte Street taking photographs as we went – there are many old buildings and interesting things to see on that one street! 

 Now we shall take the car and drive to where we shall have a meal. I think I have made Colin walk far enough for one day!

AJ

By the way - If you click on any one of the pictures you can see all of them much larger and clearer - there will be an arrow that will allow you to scroll through them. Should you need to comment and find the process too difficult, drop me a line - joanren AT gmail.com (written that way so the address is not "clickable!")