Down to Cooktown

4th July -  Mum and Dad went to Thursday Island for the day with Ninny and Nanna.  We stayed behind with Pa and Grumps.  Will went with Grumps to Seisia to get some bolts for under the front of our car that had fallen out, as well as to go fishing off the wharf there.  He caught 2 cod fish.

Mum and Dad really liked Thursday Island.  On the way they went past Possession Island where Captain Cook finally claimed the entire East Coast of Austalia for Britain.

 

The spot on Possession Island

where Captain Cook stood

Thursday Island is pretty small and makes lots of money diving for pearls and selling crayfish all around the world. It seemed like a really happy place.

 

The view from the top of Thursday Island

 

They saw a few crocodiles that day. We did too but only the shoe type that someone had left behind.

 

5th July - The following day we headed off to Captain Billy Landing.  It was on the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula so it was very, very windy.  Bella thought it should be called "Captain Windy Landing".

Captain Billy Landing

At low tide we walked around the headland to some caves full of bats, collected shells and played on the sand dunes.

Exploring the sea caves

 

Someone had made a secret hideout using bamboo for a lock, a net on a stick for a door.  The room was an opening beneath some trees and they had decorated the place with shells and coral.

We made friends with some South African girls and played 44 Home and Chair.

 

6th July - It was time to head down off the cape so we went all the way (via another quick visit to Fruit Bat Falls for another swim) to Archer River again.  The river had less water than on the way up but we went swimming upstream and built a dam.

 

An example of the thousands

of termite mounds we saw on the Cape

7th July -  We made it all the way to Cook town the next day.  We stopped off in Lakeland where Nanna and Pa had left their caravan before heading up the cape.  We said goodbye and had one last night with Ninny and Grumps at Cooktown.

 

Just before Cooktown we saw Black Mountain.  It is a huge jumble of black rocks that were once a big lump of hardened lava.  The ground above got weathered away and left the rocks which cracked along their weak points to make the tumble we can see now.

 

Black Mountain