Weekend in Cooktown

What a lovely weekend – it is a real treat to be sharing a life with someone you love and someone that loves the same things as you do! Weekends we mostly plan to do at least one thing away from the humdrum of housecleaning, cooking and looking after other people.
We are also always finding new and exciting things to do as we live in a beautiful part of the world. Sunday morning we set off early as planned to drive just up to the top of the mountain range and have lunch at the Mount Malloy pub and drive back down again. Mount Carbine Quarry, was a half hour up the road and so we drove on to there to check that out. The Quarry is much bigger than the one I work at, but really there is no town there. That mine was for Wolfram which is used for carbine tips on tools etc, but went out of business when China started importing carbine. Now China has run out and so they are thinking of re-opening the mine. Looking at the map I made the statement that we were almost a quarter of the way to Cooktown! We have been planning a trip to Cooktown for ages so we both looked at each other and said "why not?" We called mum and the kids and told them they were on their own and figured we would be able to buy a toothbrush and deodorant some place along the way. :)
What fun! We felt as though we were on a voyage of discovery! DH had been up there many years ago, and we actually discovered not much had changed. Once on top of the range the weather was lovely and cool and the scenery fantastic. The road has just been paved - up until about 3 years ago you could really only get there driving a 4 wheel drive. There were the most amazing colours of grass and I think it may have had something to do with the colour of earth as there was sometimes quite yellow earth and sometimes just as red as the Transvaal. Lots of cows along the side of the road that would just walk out onto the road as it was all unfenced. We also saw quite a few kangaroos that had been hit. There were some crops growing alongside the road that looked like peanuts, and lots of little anthills that we learned were built facing all the same way as ants needed to hide in them to avoid the temperature extremes. It was extremely windy all the time – just beautiful watching the green, gold and red grasses waving with the breeze. Then just before we got to Cooktown there are these amazing mountains called black mountain - some kind on volcanic rock that grows a black fungus and nothing really grows on them - they look quite unreal and imposing.
Then suddenly we were there in Cooktown – little Queenslander cottages with their filigree edges on wide porches and perched up on high stilts, each one had a little flower garden.
We went into the museum once we got into town - it had originally been a convent so was a beautiful building but was a bit uninteresting as far as museums go. Much nicer collections are scattered around at little roadhouses along the way. We asked the lady at the museum about hotels and she said there was one right on the waterfront so we went there first. We got a wonderful room at the seaview hotel right up on the side of the cliff overlooking the harbour where Captain Cook first landed- it had a lovely balcony where you could sit and look out across the bay - little sandy islands dotted around - very picturesque, and quite cheap to boot! We walked from one end of town to the other - there were lovely little sidewalks where they had inlaid tiles with stories on them, and a park along the waterfront with huge old trees. Very sleepy little town - we did find a supermarket so bought some bread and cheese and a few toiletries. I had thought I might buy a new shirt, but had to make do with the same clothes, as it was Sunday and everything was closed. At sunset we drove up to the lookout where Captain Cooks lighthouse was and it was so beautiful watching the sun set from up there reflecting onto the river winding like a snake into the bay and all the sandbanks. Then we walked to the RSL (returned servicemen’s league) for dinner - they always have a good home cooked meal at a good price - roast pork or sausages with lots of vegetables. DH was totally enamored by all the military memorabilia on the walls - they had caps, and flags and weapons - all donated by ex military. When we walked home at 10 the streets were deserted - I reckoned you could quite safely sleep in the middle of the road!
Monday morning (Labour day – no work) when we were having our breakfast on our little front porch we struck up a conversation with our neighbours doing the same thing - they were from England so of course DH got chatting about genealogy. She has a little permanent caravan in the lake district and said if we go over there we can use it! They are going to stay at a friends house in Wonga Beach in a couple of weeks so will have them over for a meal sometime. Funnily enough they had met online through a lonely hearts club and had actually come over here to get married! After we had booked out we went to the botanical gardens where Captain Cooks botanist had assembled a variety of native plants. Lovely and very natural - we walked down a path lined with peeling eucalyptus trees and then the path opened up onto a peaceful secluded beach lined with those big black rocks. I picked up a few natural pumice stones and then we slowly made our way back home, stopping off at Palmer river where they used to pan for gold, they have a great display of old tools at the roadhouse. Now we are home - I had a lovely soak in the bath with lavendar scented bath oil - back to work tommorrow, refreshed and renewed.