4th June 2026 : left Innot Springs heading up the Kennedy Hwy via Ravenshoe and  travelling through farmland on the Atherton Tableland to and through Atherton  to junction of the Mulligan Highway just before Mareeba. We stopped at Mareeba to refuel (Ampol Premium Diesel $2. 12/l) and have a coffee and orange muffin with passion fruit icing at the Pug Cafe. We continued on to Cooktown via a winding road through hills with a viewpoint over forest with mountains in the background. We got into Cooktown about 3.30pm, settled into a nice campsite at the Peninsula Caravan Park, backing onto a stream and then drove into town along Charlotte St - totally changed waterfront to my memory of 45 years ago when trees on the foreshore all grew in one direction due to the prevailing winds. A lot of development has taken place. We then drove up to Grassy Hill and the Lighthouse- now with a viewing platform built in 2007.

We decided to eat at the RSL club- Coral trout fish and chips for Nic and baked coral trout for me. We returned to the caravan to plan our next few days in Cooktown over a cup of Matcha tea. We then watched an episode of Shetland after our caravan site provided a clear view to the south through the trees. Went to sleep to the sound of the screaning of the Bush stone-curlews and the lapping of the water in the small stream behind our caravan.

Photos below are in wrong order, going backwards re time they were taken but manipulating them on my phone eludes me!

                   Sunset from Grassy Hill



Viewpoint along Mulligan Highway on way to Cooktown
Map of Campsites on the Cape York Peninsula


Comments

  1. NicJune 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM

    FUN FACT (quite serious actually): The first act of ‘reconciliation’ with Australia’s indigenous peoples occurred on 19 July 1770. The local indigenous, when visiting Cook and his men, were outraged by the numbers of turtles they had caught and potentially violent events followed, including setting alight the grass around Cook and co. Reconciliation was achieved later after Cook, Banks and others pursued the plaintiffs with muskets in hand. But a very sensible elder, described by Banks as ‘a little old man’, approached them with a broken spear, indicating he wanted peace, which was duly reciprocated.

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