Cooktown-my pub blew away

Back to Mossman to take on supplies. Good Woolworths and we loaded up with lots of goodies. Road then goes up hill for about 10kms but our heavily loaded polo has no problems. Mt Carbine, Palmer Road house deserve a stop. Road is really good for 240kms up and down over big hills and past termite mounds. Big white brahmin cattle are wandering around so we take it easy.

 4kms down a side road is Lions Den pub. Only 100kms from Cape Trib by the Bloomfield Track but as this was too rough for us we had driven over 300kms. Yorkshire back packers behind the bar of this 1870s hotel. Nice camp area but shocking showers. Good for one night.

 

Nice sunny morning as we drive on. The Black Mountain is a mass of black granite boulders. People are said to have gone into this area and not come out. Check the four caravan parks in Cooktown and settle on the first run by John and Mary. Walk along the sea front. Blue sea, palm trees a few grand old buildings. Capt Cook was here in 1770 repairing his ship Endevour and meeting the locals.August 1873 there were no non indigineous people here. By July 1874 20,000 chinese and 15,000 europeans had arrived and there were 65 pubs and assorted other services for gold mining.
The Top Pub had a band so we enjoyed a beer in the garden and the company of many characters. Happy hour at the campground and a campfire.

Sunday cricket next to the botanical gardens and Youngmi almost caught a six as she emerged from the mango trees.Walked along the beach and forest track to the lighthouse. Great apart from two alsatians attacking Dave.Another happy hour at the camp ground. At 5pm a few people gather to have a drink and a chat. Pat our neighbour explains he has two shopping trolley bags with him. One for clean clothes and one for the laundry. Bert at the head of the table has driven from Perth. He has been here a few times before when it was a real challenge to get here. John and Mary and assorted others make for a pleasant couple of hours.Another campfire and pasta dinner.

Another sunny day and we get our washing done and get organised. Dave walks up Mt Cook a fun climb through the trees to a lookout over the sea and great barrier reef. Meet Bob the kiwi on the way down. He is visiting his son who lives in Cooktown and likes pig hunting. Make our daily visit to the bottle shop. The pleasant guy there was saying he comes from Melbourne and has run pubs between Darwin and Normanton for the last 20 years. He came to run the middle pub a few months ago but he and 5 others had to take shelter in the cool room when the cyclone came. When they emerged after 7 hours the pub was gone-blown all over the hillside. He has been running the bottle shop since. Get another bottle of Hidden Gem red.and join the happy hour. Egg and bean dinner by the campfire. Loads of stars. Youngmi is convinced a wild pig is outside in the night but it turns out to be a campers dog. Next morning a brush turkey joins us for breakfast and we watch the 4 wheel drive bus tour packing up. Very impressive.

Another day in Paradise. Fish and chips at the Top Pub for lunch then walk it off to Grassy Hill. James Cook museum is splendid in a big old catholic school which was repaired for Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1970. Displays on everything including catholics, indigineous life, chines and of course the Capt. Anchor and a cannon from the Endevour are there. They were thrown overboard as Cook tried to sail back over the barrier reef.




Another good happy hour at the campground chatting to lots of interesting people. At the campfire chat to a youngish aussie couple who work in a Queensland coal mine. They are going to Cape York and hope to go pig hunting. They use dogs to chase the wild pigs and as the dogs try to hang on the hunter dives in with a knife and stabs the pig. The pigs have big tusks and the dogs wear armour on their neck. Scary
Next morning say goodbye to Pat who is moving on. He says it has been good to have intelligent conversation.

A guided walk in the botanical gardens takes 2.5 hours but is very interesting. I can find a vanilla tree and a red beach. The latter has flower, fruit and bud all at the same time.
Lighthouse again with a great view of the reef and a last visit to the bottle shop of the blown away pub.