29 April 2013 – Cooktown

Up early again this morning thanks to a bit of torrential rain which was causing a ditch behind our tent to sound like a running river, as well as having an aboriginal rock art tour booked and had to drive north to Hope Vale to meet up with Willie Gordon, Guurrbi Tours, by 8.30am.  Upon arrival and after following the red dirt road, it appeared that we were the only ones who had booked today’s tour so it was in fact a private tour and time to learn as much about aboriginal life as possible.  Willie is a fantastic guide, a sincere and genuine fellow, great communicator and was simply fantastic with the kids.  We learnt many things such as not needing a didgeridoo to make that incredible sound.  It simply comes from your mouth and the didgeridoo is just an amplifier for the sound.  He taught us about the fruits of many trees and how the growth of these determined what season it was and which animals to therefore hunt at what times of the year.  He showed us how to make whistles out of what appeared to be a big gumnuts, which long grasses they stripped to make ropes and paintbrushes and which ones could be cleaned up and the juice drunk from.  There were others that if you pull right down from the root has a red root that you can use as the paint.  Further along, he took us to a cave where his father was born.  Part of their culture was to bury the placenta nearby to the birthplace of a child and later in life, upon their death, the body is buried until it decays and the bones later dug up and buried in a special bag not too far from the placenta (sounds gross but I think that’s a pretty special thing).  He also spoke of his father being taken to the Mission in the late 1920’s and later returning to Hope Vale to help build the community.  We went on further to look at many aboriginal rock arts, and the story behind them.  Willie feels that he is responsible for passing on these stories and not forgotten in the future.  He even had both girls do a bit of rock art painting themselves and they then laid them in a special area away from the elements of the weather so that they may come back one day in the future and find and reminisce about these themselves.  A few other fun things that the kids got involved in were the lizard fishing and the cleansing of the skin by using soap bush leaves.  It was an extremely informational and spiritual morning and lovely to meet this man that is trying to keep his culture alive for future generations, and by that I don’t just mean the aboriginals, but all Australians.  Definitely worth your time if any of you ever come to Cooktown.  The kids were exhausted afterwards and fell asleep on the way back to Cooktown but Willie had told us where there is a crocodile in the wild, and this afternoon we went to find him.  The first dirt track was quite long and didn’t quite take us to the river where we thought he had intended.  We drove back to the highway and found another track and this time after a short drive, it led us straight to the river.  We peered down the steep embankment, searching both up and down the river but unfortunately couldn’t find him.  I think we will have to head back there another day to see if he has returned.  We, or should I say I, was also lucky enough to go to the local cemetery, something that I can’t convince the kids to get excited about.  There were many distinct old gravesites but a more recent one caught my eye.  It was bright blue and stated “here lies a legend”, dedicated to someone’s grandad… very touching!  To top off our busy day, we headed to the wharf for a spot of fishing.  It was about 5pm by this time and only 2 others trying their luck.  We grabbed a hand reel and a couple of lines and our frozen prawns and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset while dangling our lines.  Sami and I both caught a fish but I have no idea what they were.  Obviously not worth eating though as Josh threw them back, or perhaps he just didn’t want to gut them?  Fortunately there was a little fish and chip shop a few doors down from the wharf, so we opted to take them up for dinner tonight.  After dinner we headed back to the caravan park and back to “our” camp kitchen for some good conversation with another new couple.  The rain wasn’t as heavy tonight but the wind is continuing to blow strong.  Both Josh and I are hoping that it dies down so we can catch up on sleep that we’ve missed out on the past two nights.  Our cyclone now has a name and we are hoping that “Zane” disappears before he even appears!