Day 58 Cooktown

From the previous blog the answer is Cooktown is called Cooktown because Captain Cook set up camp here in the Endeavour River for 41 days to repair his ship after it run aground on a reef way back in 1770.

Now then, first on the agenda this morning was the James Cook Museum. It had lots of things about the gold rush days which was the real catalyst for the town. It also had some great things about Cook's visit including the original Endeavour anchor and one of its cannons which were retrieved from the reef where they were off loaded to lighten the ship.

There was also some of the ships logs relating to the time they spent at Cooktown. They included the white man's first sighting of a kangaroo which had them amazed.

After the museum we went to the actual spot on the river where the Endeavour was moored for repairs and viewed the Cook memorials. Then we went up to the Lookout and lighthouse over the whole area.

In the late afternoon we went to Finch Bay where we watched some aboriginal men wade through the waves looking to spear dinner. Then it was back to camp for dinner and down to the wharf for some evening fishing. We hooked some small squid for bait but no big hits tonight.

Bye for now
Richard