Ryan’s Journal: Days 55 - 58

Day 55

Distance travelled: 390km

We had to pack up, after only one night in Mareeba, to get to Cooktown via Laura. Instead of driving the main road, we went the ‘scenic’ route. We wanted to go to Split Rock, where there a many aboriginal paintings. In my opinion, they were the best we’ve seen. There were three sites; the first was the biggest, with paintings of people, spirits and animals. The second had flying-foxes, about ten of them and the third had ‘skinny people’, Quinkan, an evil spirit who punishes those who break aboriginal law.

Our next stop, because I have a cousin called Laura, was a town called Laura. It is an old town that used to be an important railway station through the gold rush. It was small, but we got a drink at the pub, played pool (which I won!), and had lunch. The next road we were on was dirt, which we love! We drove on and made it to Cooktown. At first sight, we liked it. It is an old town on the beach and gets the name Cooktown because when Captain Cook was discovering Australia, he hit the Great Barrier Reef and had to beach his ship there to repair it.

Day 56

Distance travelled: 16km

Today we decided to have a look at Cooktown, so we went for a walk around town. It is small, but nice. There a few pubs, a big park and lots of gift shops. We met up at the Cook museum after about an hour, and had a look in there. The museum was a big, old building and the museum included information about the time of the Endeavour (James Cook’s ship). It had an anchor and cannon from the ship which the crew threw overboard when the ship hit the reef. It also included information about the town’s history, including the gold rush. It was once a really busy port because of all the gold that they found.

We drove to the lighthouse that was on top of a hill. It was really windy up there, but the views were great! We could see out over the ocean and some of the reef.

We continued looking around town and went to Finch Bay, were we walked out across crab infested sand to the water. We walked through the Botanic Gardens, which were cool.

We spent the evening fishing off the wharf watching the sunset and eating pizza. We started off fishing for bait and I caught a small Queenfish on my baitline!

Day 57

Distance travelled: 155km

We left Cooktown, with only 22km to go before the start of the road that leads down to the Bloomfield Track. Except that I had left my Ipad behind, so we had to go back! Lucky we like Cooktown. So we drove an extra 44km to Cooktown and back again. This time, we went down the track, which, at some stages, was very rough. We stopped at Bloomfield falls, which were very big! We couldn’t swim or get to the bottom of the falls, but we still got a good view. We crossed Bloomfield River before getting to Cape Tribulation. This is where Captain Cook hit a reef and had to beach his ship at Endeavour River to repair it. We stayed at Noah’s Beach where we set up camp about ten seconds from the beach.

Day 58

Distance travelled: 24km

I woke after a little sleep in and went out on the beach and read in the sun for a while. Nick went for a walk, so I waited for him to get back so we could go to the Cape Trib. At the Cape there was a lookout where you could see the cape and out to sea. We also walked along the beach and out into the water.

We then went to Myall beach where we did a boardwalk through the rainforest and ate lunch there.

We were advised by some locals that a good spot to swim was at Mason’s Waterhole. So we went there and had a swim. There, there was a rope which we swung on into the water. The water was cold, but refreshing in the heat of the day.

In the afternoon, Dad went for a fish, where he caught a stingray! All afternoon Jackson, Nick and I stayed out on the beach, swimming most of the time. The water was so warm! We spent the sunset in the water, looking back at the sun setting behind the mountains.