Enjoying Cape Tribulation
Another beach just down the road from Cape Tribulation.
We had a lovely drive around around to Cooktown. It was far more hilly than I realised with some of the hills being very steep ascents and descents. The brakes were given a workout! We also had several river crossings which were fun. We eventually descended down and crossed a causeway to the little town of Wajal Wajal. We went out to the Bloomfield Falls (Wajal Wajal) and there was a tonne of water flowing down. It must be amazing to see in the wet season.
We went into a local gallery for Aboriginal artists. There was some lovely paintings there and some beautiful jewellery, especially the necklaces and earrings made out of bush seeds and nuts. We were also lucky to meet one of the artists, Maurice, whose work was beautiful. I was especially fond of his painting of crocodiles. He also showed us a photo taken by a German Tourist of the falls. You can clearly see a face of a man in the waterfall (looks like an Elder). He also showed us a photo of the local croc - he is huge!
We enjoyed our lunch there and while I was looking in the gallery Ed took the down to the causeway to look for the croc. As I was walking down to see them this Aboriginal woman asked me, "what dat man taking kids down there? There a big croc down there." We had a little chat and a laugh!
We continued along the road into Cooktown. Along the way we saw several crocs on the river banks in the sun. They looked big!
We stopped no far out of town at Black Mountain. Its this hill built up with heaps of black rocks. There are several animals that are endemic to the area including a snake and a skink. It is also a dreamtime story about how the mountain was formed. A long time ago two boys loved the same girl. It was decided that whoever could build the biggest pile of rocks would win the girl. As she watched them work they didn't notice a cyclone approaching. The boys fell and died into the rocks and the girl drowned. I like these stories to explain special places.
Black Mountain
We continued on along the road into Cooktown. James Cook came here on the 17th June 1770 to repair his ship, 'The Endeavour.' Joseph Banks was also on the ship and with another man collected many specimens of native flora and Fauna. There is a hill overlooking Cooktown called Grassy Hill that housed the Lighthouse. It is decommissioned now and the local community have turned it into a tourist spot. It has amazing views of the surrounding area and all the rivers flowing in and around town. On the walk back to the car Charlotte found a large witchery grub and Ed found a large green grasshopper.
The Memorial to James Cooks landing up on Grassy Hill
The view up on Grassy Hill
We visited the jetty at Cooktown the sight of Ed's - his first Barra! It was high tide at 9pm so Ed went down there after dinner to have a go. I stayed back at the caravan park with the kids who were asleep.
I had a quiet night catching up on the blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment