30.08.07

COOKTOWN

Blow, bloody hell did it blow! All night, it comes in gusts and really makes the van shake then drops off to start over, doesn’t drop off in the morning but lasts all day. Still it didn’t rain today and it is nice and warm, just have to get used to the wind.

Went up onto the top of Grassy Hill( which is covered in trees) for magnificent views of Cooktown , Endeavour River and the surrounding mountains. A very high and steep climb that had mum sitting on my knee, used low 4WD on the way down which is fantastic. Saw Ron and Kath up there but didn’t see them again through the day.

After went to the old Bank of NSW building that has been very well restored although it was still in use in the late 1990’s. It is a very imposing brick building with magnificent timber furnishings and lovely lights. They have a very comprehensive display of photos and drawings of local history. There were 22,000 Chinese there at the peak of the gold fever at Palmer River in the 1800’s and Cooktown was the second busiest port in Qld. Today it is a sleepy seaside village as yet unspoilt by modern development.

Later I went to the jetty and arrived as a nice barra was being pulled up, not that I saw another! As I said yesterday they all use hand lines and live bait. The bait is caught by using drop nets or jigging those multi hook thingo’s with coloured bits on them, there were about 5/6 locals there and they were only too happy to share their bait, not that it did any good, however they didn’t catch any either.

I went back again about 1700 and stayed til sundown but no luck, a chap was leaving and gave me a live bait he had caught a 6/700 mm Barracouta before I arrived.

Before that we went for a drive to the Botanical Gardens and then to the north a bit to a village named Marton which is on the upper Endeavour River. There is a new development there with some REAL flash houses, well actually only a couple but the agent is still hopeful. At one place there is a new strong footbridge over the river which must be used if the road bridge is flooded, probably for school kids to get to school? Also went to the Cooktown Cemetery which has sections for the Chinese, Jewish, Catholic ( Nuns and Priests) and an area that looked a bit feral, like the alternate people were buried there. It is scattered over a very large area and dates back many years, some of the graves are adorned with large clam shells and other seashells, most interesting.