Cooktown

We pulled into Cooktown in the late afternoon and it was much sleepier than we had imagined. We made it around town in about 20 minutes, stopping at the statue of Capt. James Cook and then driving up to the Grassy Hill where he looked out 339 year ago to see his “dire circumstances”(damaged boat and difficult terrain). From this vantage point once can see all of Cooktown, the ocean, reef and islands offshore as well as the winding river inland. Today, there is a small lighthouse on this spot. We read the plaque at Grassy Hill and, deciding that a shower would be a enjoyable treat, went on to a campground in town. Pulling into our spot we disrupted our new neighbors, Lionel and Irene, from their wine and cheese happy hour (4:30 early bird special). We were again the novelty of the campground. As we set up camp, a 75 year old German man and his wife came over to inspect out set-up. The man was quite proud of his own 4WD camper and basically took Jonathan hostage showing him all the intricacies of his vehicle. At one point, the wife said in her thick German accent “oh no, here comes zee motor”. The men were examining the workings under the hood. After extricating Jonathan from the grips of the German gentleman, we sat down to dinner and ended up having a lovely (and very long) conversation with Lionel and Irene (mostly Lionel). They were intrigued that we were young and American and traveling as we are. They are Australian and Lionel was a former electrical worker who had retired, bought a small camper and spent their time traveling around the country. Boy they had stories! They had traversed both Australian deserts and been to pretty much every corner of the country many times. We found out later in our conversation that they were 80! We chatted well into the night, and they answered many questions we had about things Australian (wildlife, hunting, politics, etc.) Finally Irene said “Lionel, you talk too much” and took him to bed.
We went to bed as well (though it might have been the latest we stayed up all trip – 9 PM!!). In the morning we bid farewell to all of our friends and after a quick stop at the towns Saturday AM market, we again hit the road.

Cooktown Lighthouse - not quite as glamourous as those in the U.S.

Jonathan strikes a pose by the Captain Cook statue.