Day 172 - Sunday 18 June - Lazy Cooktown Sunday

Day 172

Sunday

18 June 2017 – Began Ashley Bell by Dean Kontz. I am expecting a thriller style piece going by previous stories I have read and the cover of this book.

Cooktown

It was nice to know that we didn’t have a timeline today, even though we were both awake at 7am, we were content to read for a while knowing we didn’t have to rush off to anywhere. I don’t thing we have had that for a while and it will be nice to enjoy for the next few days.

We did eventually surface and have breakfast before reading some of the tourist info and making a decision about our morning. We packed up the car and headed north of Cooktown. Our first stop was Endeavour Falls that is accessed through the caravan park. You are supposed to drop a gold coin in the donation box, but as we had no change, we just kept on walking through the palm-lined path and down to the waters edge.

 

The falls are quite wide but not particularly tall. There was a decent amount of water flowing over the top of them and we were able to walk out to the edge and watch the water tumble over the 2m drop of black rock. All the while I was looking for crocs that frequent the area.

 

We checked out the water from the small grassy area, a butterfly caught my attention that I went off to chase and photograph, we then made our way back towards the car, stopping again to take some photos of the silky chooks that fad been coloured to look like large pastel pompoms. 

We then followed the road on to Isabella Falls. The falls came upon us quickly, not realising that the Isabella Creek crossing was actually the site of the falls. We weren’t game to complete the crossing, so we parked the car on the side of the road before taking off to wander around the crossing and then the falls. 

We watched a number of cars (4WD) all complete the crossing and on closer inspection, realised it wasn’t that bad and Paul was eager to do it and give the car a wash. I however, wanted to take off the shoes and wade through the water rushing over the road and that is what I did, only to find it was not more than mid-calf deep in a few spots. It was quite cool and refreshing. 

Paul drove through and back, while I shuffled around and took some photos and then it was back into the car for the drive back to the van. We had our lunch and enjoyed the chance to rest and relax before I became restless and we were back in the car and driving to the Botanic Gardens. We parked in the car park and did a wander through part of the garden, following the path to Finch Bay. You had to pass out of the gated gardens and continue walking through the rainforest following the well-worn path between the trees of all sizes and colours before finally popping out on to a large, flat white beach and no other soul in site.

We wandered the waters edge as the turquoise waters rolled in in waves. The sand was littered with the tell tale sign of crabs. Thousands of little balls of sand laid in delicate patterns across the entire beach, giving the impression of well-worn bitumen. We walked to where a creek entered the bay, watching a number of kites duck and dive, soaring to great heights with the thermals.

We made our way back through the rainforest and into the botanic garden, returning to the car shortly after and then we meandered through the back streets of town and back to the van.

It was quite humid, despite the fair breeze so I decided to head to the pool for a refreshing dip and that it was. It took me a while to eventually become submersed. Many others stuck their toes in and promptly jumped out, while others stayed for a quick dip only. I did some laps before Paul eventually joined me. He too found it cool and was keen to cool off and leave.

When we were back at the van I took out the cheeses and we enjoyed a drink and nibbles, cranking the music to drown out the sound of kids seeing the park was now overrun with them and it isn’t even school holidays yet, urgh.

We happily whiled the rest of the afternoon away, Paul reading and me going through the photos. I had a message from a manager at Six Tanks Brewery in Darwin asking if they could use some of my photos that I thought was cool. Paul said I should be charging them, but figured if they are just using the Facebook ones they won’t be high resolution and if they ask for the files I will charge them then.  

The afternoon passed quickly into evening, we ate dinner before Paul was off to bed not feeling the best. I persevered with the net before giving up and retiring as well.