Cooktown

We spent two days in Cooktown - leaving the caravan in Cairns and booking into a (tiny) cabin for the night (at an extortionate price!)  Never mind - it was well worth the visit and good to learn some more of the history of Australia and the first English man (from only a few miles from our Redcar home) to set foot in Oz.   The Capt Cook Museum was well worth the AUS $20.

Our journey to Cooktown - up the east coast towards Cape York; as far as you can on bitumen roads before it becomes inaccessible unless you have 4WD vehicles; through mountains on very windy roads with big drops; some absolutely amazing views and coastlines …WOW!

Apart from Captain Cook (and very large crocodiles!!!!) Cooktown is also famous for fishing - and my first real fishing experience took place during this trip - I managed to catch a seagull (I did catch a Spanish mackerel first but the seagull decided he’d have that!)  Geoff then had fun unhooking the bird, and a Travelly (which was HUGE!) but managed to bite through my line and got away.
 (Honest it did and it was big!)

And … for our Redcar followers … we had our evening meal at the local bowls club where Chicken Parmo was on the menu!!  How amazing was that?!

On our way home we came down through the Black Mountains and again some spectacular views.  We stopped at Port Douglas (holiday spot of rich and famous) for a much needed ice cream!


So …. Your History Lesson for the day ….

Captain James Cook - born in November 1728 in Marton, Middlesbrough.
Grew up in Great Ayton and attended school there.  He used to climb Roseberry Topping and enjoyed the solitude there.
At the age of 16 James moved to Staithes to serve his apprenticeship in a shop - it is assumed that this is where he first fell in love with the sea. 
18 months later - after an unsuccessful apprenticeship in the shop - he moved to nearby Whitby where he was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice - for three years.

In 1768 Cook set out on an expedition which was to last 3 years.  It was during this trip (June 1770) that his boat The Endeavour ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, and Cook and his crew needed to make repairs to the boat on the beach - which took 7 weeks.  The coastline was claimed as British Territory.  The area they landed is now known as Cooktown. 

This was the first British landing in Australia although the Dutch record landing in 1606

Capt Cook died on 14 February 1779 (aged 51) during his third voyage when he came into conflict with locals on the island of Hawaii.

His parent’s home in Great Ayton was moved to Melbourn in Australia in 1934 - brick by brick.

Here endeth your History Lesson for today!