Cooktown.2
Posted on 19 Jan, 2009 5 comments
4.8 Forgot to mention we had gone along the foreshore to see the oldest brick house ( or what was left of it ) in Queensland. Well, it was nothing more than ruins from 1780, rubble and rubbish along, old wire fence, just what we call “a mess”. I found that Cooktown was not very enterprising, not catering enough for tourists and a bit delapitated. They could do so much more and make much more money, but never mind. The locals seem to want to keep the place as it is.
And what is Cooktown? The place where the Endevour stranded under command of Captain Cook in 1770. So you see his name everywhere, statues, plaques etc. The old bank is a nice old building and there are many more from the forgotten era, but also forgotten to maintain. Nothing seems to be restored to its former glory, which I think is a shame. But that is my opinion. Many Chinese came as workers, planted mango trees, which are still there all over town, huge and old, some bearing small green mangoes, but all at this time heavily laden with blossom. There was a native gum and malaleuca tree which was also flowering and smelling nicely, so the town smelled sweet.
OK. Today as I got outof our room I saw an Aboriginal woman sitting on the terrace in front of the room next door to ours. Their car had broken down and as the owner of the premises was also the local RACQ he had towed them into town and now their car was sitting on the back of a truck. The woman, black, fat and with purple hair, but very friendly, tried to get her doggy Roger outof the car. The doggy was a cute little dashhund, but was too scared to come down and she was too fat to climb up. So she called what I thought was her husband, but it was her son in law. He took the darling down and I gave it some water. It drank more than a liter. It must have been so thirsty. No wonder, the car windows were closed too. Next her daughter came out, very nice faced, smiling, and last but not least the grand son, a baby on her arms. The whole family had slept in that room, which only had one double bed! Better not ask any questions. The truck took the car to the garage, we left after breakfast for more adventures and when we got back, the family had gone, car fixed.
We had set off to Quarantine Bay, a lovely unknown beach, which our Shell man had recommended to us, and which was not on any tourist info map. We took a road 5 km’s outof Cooktown, passed the golf and then onto a gravel road, which ended on the Bay. That beach was lovely and secluded and the dogs had a ball running around. There were however a series of wooden houses along what is now called ” the Esplanade”, but which is still in its developing stage, bulldozers to make a road etc., some of which are for sale. Later on in the real estate window Paul saw that those houses sold for nearly a million and that the blocks of this new development of 700m2 were in the range of 700 000 dollars. Then you still have to build a house! I cannot imagine anyone living there. Where would the water come from? Rain tanks perhaps? There was electricity, but so remote and still only a gravel road.
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Comments
Pleased you found that beach before the developement goes too far,well done for helping with dog poor little tyke...............
19 Jan, 2009
No Sprtizhenry, there are no sharks there. Sharks hunt for big fish, and the big fish hunt for little fish, but the little fish won't let themselves get caught as they hide in the coral here in the Great Barrier Reef. Well, this is what the marine biologist told me, when I went on an excursion on one of the islands. We "only" get crocs, which live in the rivers near the coast, where the salt water comes in. They don't really march along the beaches, so it is quite safe. The only thing dangerous are the jelly fish called stingers and you can't see them as they are transparent and small. So between May and October one has to swim in the area where the stinger nets have been placed.
Yes, you wonder why some people don't leave windows open for dogs, when they leave them in the car. I guess as they came in the night, it was cool and never gave it a thought. Thank you for your comments and reading my blog you both.
20 Jan, 2009
That poor little dog , surely they must have know it would need water , I hope they properly thanked you Marquerite !
It,s good that you have seen the area as it is now , one day it might be all dressed up and only the very rich will be able to go there ........
20 Jan, 2009
Very true Amy, and it is not likely I will return there in the near future....I really like the unspoilt nature best. Thank you Amy for reading my blogs.
20 Jan, 2009
Blog post by Marguerite.
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What a blissful beach, M. Now I expect you will tell me that there are sharks waiting to snap you up if you venture in the water!
I am so pleased that you saved that little dog's life - because that's what you did, if it was so dehydrated! Didn't they know what they were doing, letting it get so hot with no water?
19 Jan, 2009