DAY 42 - COOKTOWN

On Monday, we decided to do a road trip up to Cooktown along the coast road. While it is only 110km away, it took 3 hours to complete. The Bloomfield Track is a must do for the off road enthusiast as it is 30km of the most amazing rainforest track you can do as you climb over a couple of mountains and ford gorgeous little creeks.

Our trek was made interesting as we encountered a convoy of vehicle heading the other way who were participating a charity car rally. While most were four wheel drives (aka SUVs), they were all towing trailers and were quite unprepared for how steep some of the hills were and if you find jackknifed trailers on steep hills and a distraught wife berating her hapless husband, this was for you.

Cooktown is a gorgeous little community on the mouth of the Endeavour River. It is named after Captain Cook who spent 2 months there in 1770 after running onto the Great Barrier Reef while exploring the east coast of Australia. Now it is a fishing village housing everything from barely floating fishing trawlers up to state of the art 60 foot game fishing boats.