1/11/2013

Heading up to Cooktown we decided to take the Bloomfield track – I’ll let the video tell the rest. Bit of a story after the video too – hit continue reading to see it.

After a successful trip up to Cooktown we headed into IGA to grab a few things for lunch and headed down to the waterfront to find a spot to eat. We found a nice spot with a picnic table and started cooking. It was about this time we started discussing options for where we wanted to stay the night – we hadn’t planned anything. Not long after an older gentleman pulled up on a Yamaha Virago to inspect his boat in dry dock and then came over to say g’day. I can’t remember the conversation exactly but it went something along the lines of this:

Herb: “Would you like somewhere to stay cheap, as in free”

Us: “Ummm…. yeah sure, why what do you know of?”

Herb: “Well come and stay at our place, we’ve got six acres, you can have a shower and use the washing machine. I hope you like music and guitar because I play most nights until about 10”

And that pretty much sealed the deal, and that was how we met Richard (Known as Herb) and Marie. Both had plenty of stories to tell – Herb has spent most of the latter part of his life out on the water and holds his Master’s first class ticket and had also completed a number of trade certificates and also teaches celestial navigation – navigating at sea without any electronic aids; apparently one of the few people left who still actively teach in the field. We ended up staying a few days – we went to the talent contest at the local RSL (some quite talented singers and guitarists at Cooktown!) and celebrated Herb’s birthday while we were there. All in all quite an interesting few days that all came from a very short conversation. We aren’t sure of plans yet but we will likely stay with Herb and Marie for a while on the way back down so we can work and save up before heading off again – It’ll also give us somewhere to wait out the wet season. More to come on that once we know what we’re actually doing.

I didn’t take many photos while at Cooktown so not many photos this week:

AWESOME caramel thickshake

Alex hard at work

Managed to get a decent panoramic shot – overlooking Cooktown. Click to enlarge..

Old powder magazine near the water

I’ve got a bit of video footage riding through Cooktown – once I’ll post it up at a later date as I need a break from rendering videos for the moment.

My Tracks link

-Brogan.