Back to Summer

What a difference 300 km and 700m in altitude make. We've arrived in Cooktown and it is like an early summer's day in Brisbane. All the windows in the motorhome are open. I have a fan on and even Barbara said she is hot (albeit after she did a quick 2k walk).

We didn't do much other than drive today. There are 3 lookouts on the Mulligan Highway to Cooktown and we called into two them, leaving one for our return trip.

The Byerstown Range:

Black Mountain (black granite blocks exposed as the surrounding clays weather away):

The Cooktown Visitor Information Centre in the Botanic Gardens has a display of preserved snakes endemic to the region as well as paintings of Cape York plant life which is worth visiting. 

They are pretty casual in the Visitor Information Centre. When we asked what there was to do in Cooktown, the sole man in the centre gave us a town map and told us to study it and to visit everything marked. We then asked about tours, particularly to areas not suited to the motorhome. His answer was "there aren't really any tours". Thank goodness for the woman behind the counter who said "what about David?" David is a local who is just starting up and he has a selection of half and full day tours to choose from. We are now going on a half day tour to Endeavour Valley, Hope Vale, Elim Beach and Isabella Falls tomorrow with only 2 other participants and a private full day tour for just Barbara and me on Monday to Bloomfield Falls, Wujal Wujal, Shipton's Flat and the Lions Den Pub. Watch this space for details.