20120702 Qld Cooktown

20120702 Darrel has a cousin in Cooktown, so he decided to follow us, he had some chores to do first, so we meet him at Mareeba, and we followed each other.  We are stopping at Lakeland Downs Hotel where Des brought a singlet many years ago and was hopping, they still had them.  When Des asked the publican about the singlet, he said you didn’t get it from here, yes, I did he said.  He went and got his old singlet and showed the smart ass, that’s not from here, it’s got Lakeland Down’s Hotel across the front of it, of course I got it from here, its shit, he said, Des was starting to get the shits with this guy, it’s not shit mate everyone wants them. One of the locals asked to see it, that’s a beauty mate you want to keep that one, with that the publican walked off, what a prick. 

Des with his shit Lakeland Down's Hotel singlet on.






We stopped one more time at the Mt Carbine Pub for a coke and a loo break for the kids.  He then started talking to a guy from London travelling on his bike, sit down mate, and off he goes’ again, and I thought Des was a have a chat but I think he’s meet his match.

A photo of a photo of Mt Carbine Pub in 1956.

Mt Carbine Pub today , Mt Carbine is one of those middle of nowhere pubs you just have to stop at for a beer and take in the collection of funny signs and artwork.

Darrel chats to anyone and everyone and as usual he was having a good old chat with the publican about the mine, he brought out a hunk off rock, not so big in size but it was bloody heavy, Darrel and Des both had trouble lifting it.  Tungsten, also known as wolfram, directly translatable to heavy stone, meaning “Hard Rock”, it was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolated as a metal in 1783.  The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the non-alloyed metals and the second highest of all the elements after carbon, I have no idea what that means.

That's on of the longest Didgeridoo I have ever seen.

One of many signs covering the wall of the Hotel, this one I especially liked.














Cooktown owes its existence to chance; on the 11^th June 1770 at 11am being high water as we thought the Endeavour struck a reef, we tried to heave her off without success, she not being afloat by a foot or more notwithstanding by this time we had thrown overboard 40 or 50 ton weight.  With 4 ft. of water in the hold, the pumps not containing the situation and a stiffening breeze that made a run for the shore impossible there stood a slim chance for the Endeavour and any chance of a return home.  Putting their faith in a theoretical repair it led to success which enabled the ship to steer towards safe harbour which we now call Cooktown.
We entered the Cape York Peninsula at 3.20pm and our first stop was the Black Mountain National Park scenic view of The Black Mountain.

Some 260 million years ago a mass of molten rock (magma) slowly solidified deep below the earth’s surface, forming a body of hard granite rock.  An unusual jointing pattern occurred in the granite, which led to fracturing.  The top of the fracturing granite was gradually exposed as softer land surfaces above were eroded away.  Many locals stories tell of people, as well as horses and hole mobs of cattle disappearing into the labyrinth of rocks never to be seen again.

The changes that European discovery brought to Cooktown took a while before it made an impact but by the 1880’s gold had been discovered and Cooktown had become the 2^nd largest town in Queensland.  Wars, fires, cyclones and the depletion of gold finds led the town’s population too dramatically to decrease.

We parked up down a side street and piled into Darrel’s car and went in search of his Cousin who lived outside of town.  After going out of our way a few k’s we spotted his shack and headed back to town for a bit of sightseeing.

The main street as you enter Cooktown, all the streets are very wide in these outback towns.

Grassy Hill Lighthouse 1914
In 1770 Cook and Joseph Banks stood on this spot and surveyed the dreadful predicament.  I went myself upon the hill over the south point to take a view of the sea, it was low water and I saw what gave me no small uneasiness, which was a number of sandbanks along the coast. 

The only hope of getting clear is to the northwards, as the wind blows constantly from the south east we shall find it impossible if not impractical to return to the southwards.

This view overlooks The Endeavour River the path Cook took when his ship was damaged on the reef.

Back at camp we were warmly greeted by Josie, Darrel’s cousin’s wife then Wayne arrived home, with all the introductions over we all settled in for a good old chin wag and a few drinks.

This side of the shack has a fire place, sink and the loo.

Darrel doing his Grandfather duties, good on ya mate.

Wayne and Josie's home it may be a shack but it's a great shack, I could live there.

There out door shower and what a beauty, it certainly does the bits. 

03-07-2012  Wayne and Josie had to work so Darrel took us on a tour of the outback through Hope Vale aboriginal mission then onto the coloured sands.

Hope Vale is home to several clan groups who mostly speak Guugu Yimidbirr and other related languages, as well as English.  Due to a lack of reliable water supplies at Elim, the community was shifted about 20km inland to its present site.

Darrel chatting to the owner of the camp site that was once a mission.

Part of the site now abandoned.

The remnants of what was once an aboriginal mission.

I could handle camping here it's right on the beach and $10 a night.

And this is what your would be looking at, The Coloured Sands.

The Scene on the way back to our camp site from the coloured Sands.

This is one of the Biggest ant nest I have ever seen and there everywhere.

Josies brother and family turned up in the afternoon for a week stay so we had a BBQ followed by a few drinks ending in a great night.

04-07-2012  Time to head off once again and Des and I were keen to check out the Lions Des Hotel first, so we all decided to meet there after breaky.

The hotel got its name when a stowaway called Daniel, looking for work left his adopted ship at Cooktown and was put to work in a mine, opposite the hotel. Upon seeing Daniel standing in the opening of the tunnel, the owner of the mine characterized hem as Daniel in the Lions Den and the name took to the mine.

Darrel and Wayne his cousin out side the Lions Den, Darren really didn't won't to leave.

This is just one part of the wall covered in signatures, just about all the walls are covered.  The signatures on the wall stem from many miners at various tin mines around the area.  In the early days as education and security of personal belongings was limited, some miners began leaving their pay packets at the Lions Den and writing how much money they had spent, or still had on the wall.

If not covered in signatures there are lots of memorabilia and snakes in bottles.

There are campgrounds at the back and you can stay in one of their safari tents.

You can swim in the Annan River at the back of the hotel but it was a bit cold.  We were tempted to stay the night to watch the State of Origin but decided to hit the road.

 One last look at the Black Mountain on the way out of Cooktown.

We stopped at the James Ear Lookout and were going to stay the night but we couldn't get any reception to watch the State of Origin so we left.

We camped up at the back of the Palm River Roadhouse and watched the Origin match and of cause we won, 21 to 20, what a great game.