What a night! Our
tents are only just long enough for me to lay straight – that is when my head
is at the top of my pillow and my feet are pushing at the other end of the
tent. You can imagine the angle that
Josh tries to lie at in order to fit in the tent. Needless to say that we don’t sleep in the
same tent but share one each with each of the girls. Because the blow up mattress only just fits
in the tent, they rub on the side of the tent and we can hear every time
someone rolls over. Also, the winds were
so strong that it felt like we were going to blow away – however, they did keep
the tent a bit cooler. BUT, then the
rain began. I realised this at about 1am
when my feet were getting wet. I jumped
out of the tent and ran to the close the flap at the other end (which we’d kept
open to get some airflow through) and then closed Josh’s tent too. I obviously wasn’t quick enough as the sheet
was quite wet at my feet as well as my pillow – what a great start to
camping! And I didn’t pack coffee…. We had a drive about town. There was supposed to be a charity jet ski
event leave from Cooktown this morning.
However, due to the cyclone warning, strong winds and rough seas, this
particular leg of the trip from Cooktown to Townsville was unfortunately
cancelled. There were still a few jet
skis being put in the sea though – very game considering all the crocodile
warning signs. I hope they don’t fall
off. We ventured around town and took in
some of the history. There are old
cannons, a replica of the Endeavour (with musical instruments on board for the
kids), remnants of an old crane down by the wharf, a rock monument in memory of
Edmund Kennedy who attempted an expedition to the Cape York Peninsula in the
1840’s but who was speared down by aboriginals before he met his goal, and
another monument in memory of Captain Cook (who I’m sure you are already aware
landed here in 1770). After having a bit
of morning tea (and a coffee) at the local café, we headed up Grassy Hill to
Cook’s Lookout. Captain Cook headed up
here to survey where his boat had run aground and to search for a way out of this
predicament. It is pretty cool to think
we are walking some of the same paths as the first European white man to find
this great land. Our next stop was to
the James Cook Museum which was a 19th century convent, a gorgeous old
brick building. The Sisters of Mercy at
this St Mary’s Convent educated young women here until WWII forced their evacuation. It was then left empty for nearly 30 years
but after a lot of fundraising, in particular from the locals, it was restored
and reopened in 1970 by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
The highlight of this museum is seeing the original anchor and cannon
from the Endeavour ship as well as reading the story about finding and recovering
the anchor in 1971. There was also an
extremely old piano which had once washed up from sea which reminded me an old
piano which now sits in my father’s garage.
There were some statements printed on one wall about Captain Cook, one
of which the kids found very amusing – it went “Captain Cook chased a chook,
all around Australia, lost his pants in the middle of France, and found them in
Tasmania.” This afternoon, we went for a
drive to Archer Point and the view was simply stunning. It is quite a hilly area and extremely windy,
especially in the circumstances. We were
surprised to see a few people up on the rocky areas which were hard to get to
and also shocked to see the two young people who had made it in their station
wagon (rather than a 4WD) to reach the lighthouse atop one of the mountains. Later in the afternoon, the kids went for a
swim and again, it is a lovely big pool with few people around. While in the pool we got talking to another older
couple who have been living in their caravan for about the past 5 years, and as
of tomorrow, will be working here for about the next 5 months. We have been listening closely to the news
and weather reports waiting to see what might be – still very unsure of how bad
this cyclone may get!
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