All posts tagged Cooktown

Day 13: Cooktown to Coen

Left Cooktown this morning hoping to camp in Lakefiled National Park but found the road was closed after 15km into the park. Bummer… had to turn around and find another destination. The choice were either Musgrave Roadhouse or the town, Coen. I picked Coen.

It was a long drive (felt like it anyway). I must have driven on a straight stretch of road for more than 50km, thought it would never end. Arrived at Coen just after 3pm and I was exhausted.

The car got a serious workout today, some might even say torture. It was completely covered in red dust. Had to borrow a hose here at the homestead to hose it down. Then I found a small hole punctured on the back passenger door. It must have been hit by a rock on the way. Ouch!

I remember that I kept thinking how can anyone live out here. It’s hours to the next town. I have never been anywhere as remote as this. Then I am going to more places that are even more remote. “What have I got myself into?” WINK…

Nah, its all fun and a great experience. I am enjoying it greatly; just hope I can finish it in 3 months.

No pictures were taken today so will try tomorrow.

John @ Coen, QLD

Today’s image: Old Fishing Boat at Cardwell by the Sea
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , , , 0 0
Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing
James Cook Statue
Black Mountain

Day 12: Cooktown

I had more time today to explore Cooktown. It is a relatively small town made up by a handful of streets. You can easily walk around the town in half a day. It has a nice sea dock where locals and tourists fish. There’s also the Botanical Gardens and a couple of bays. I will try to go to the bays later at dusk to see if I can get some good shots.

There are few statues around the dock area. James Cook, Mick the Miner and even a Chinese sculpture. I guess Chinese must have a bit of history here as well. A retired lighthouse stands on top of Grassy Hill here. I read that it was built in England and it was shipped over and installed back in 1885. That’s one ‘old’ lighthouse.

Just 25km south of Cooktown, there is this strangest mountain range formed by black granite boulders, the Black Mountain National Park. You can clearly see this from Google maps using satellite view. It is a must see for anyone travelling this way.

It is a Saturday today, so a bit of crowd was around earlier in the day. There was a little street market, tourists were stopping over and having their lunch at cafes. It didn’t last very long before it all went quiet again except the local pubs. I suppose this is how small little fishing town like this works.

It’s been good spending a couple of days here. Tomorrow, I will be heading further north; not sure where I will be staying yet so stay tuned.

^_^

John @ Cooktown, QLD

Today’s images: 1. Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing; 2. James Cook Statue; 3. Black Mountain National Park
14 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , , 0 0

Day 11: Cairns to Cooktown

Never thought I would say this but I love 4-wheel driving! So there.

It took me 9 hours today to get from Cairns to here, Cooktown. I did stop at many places and look around. Port Douglas is too ‘resort-ish’ for my liking but it is a nice holiday destination, I must say. Then, stopped at Mossman, pretty much the last stop before going off-road so I topped up the tank.

Next, I headed to Daintree Ferry to cross the river; then went to Daintree Rainforest Discovery Centre for a side trip. It was almost all off-road driving after Daintree. Crossed many little creeks and rivers. Some of the hills are so steep that I swear our ‘dog’ van would not made some of them. It was so much fun and scary at the same time.

Haven’t have much chance to take any pictures today but did take some that I really like. Like the one today 🙂

xox

John @ Cooktown, QLD

Today’s image: Cows Resting Near Diwan, Queensland
14 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , , 0 2