Today was up extremely early (4.45am) as I had to be ready to be picked up at 6am for my tour to 'Cooktown' which Lynn had kindly organised for me with their company "Gary's Safaris". I was picked up first by Matt, and then we went on to pick up some Aussies Fiona and her husband and Heather and Angela (who was originally from Cambridge, UK!). At 7am we were on our way up to 'Cooktown'. We passed through the "Daintree National Park" and the "Alexandra ranges". We then had to cross over the "Daintree River" by barge, the river was very deep and had a great backdrop as the mist was just beginning to clear from the hills above. After that we drove for a bit further north before our first stop for morning tea and banana cake at "Thornton Beach". As the refreshments were being set up we had a chance to walk down to the beach, which although it was slightly misty was very pretty and tranquil. The drive up to 'Cooktown' was via the scenic coast road which so far had been on bitumen road, but soon became a drive along river beds, through creeks and on dusty rough unsealed road. This made the trip exciting and gave you a real feel that you were travelling up to the rainforest and hidden reaches of Australia. We travelled up through 'Cape Tribulation' and its lush rainforest and reached our next stop which was the "Bloomfield Falls". These falls are situated on the land owned by the 'Wujal Wujal' Aboriginal community and so are private property, but "Garys Safaris" have permission to visit them. We parked up and then had to walk a couple hundred metres over river bed to reach the "Falls", which were stunning. The cascading water was really strong and so the "Falls" had a great presence. We also saw lots of fish in the water, but could not dip a toe in as the waterfall area was popular with crocodiles! We continued to follow the "Bloomfield Track" through the little villages of 'Ayton' and up to 'Rossville', which can be described as an alternative lifestyle area. It was set up by hippies and has a local market which sells crafts and produce the second saturday in every month. As all the little villages do along the track it is populated by a great deal of Aboriginals. After driving for over 3h we had our next stop, at the "Lions Den Hotel" near "Helenvale". We then followed the track for a further hour before reaching 'Cooktown' at lunchtime. Matt took us to order lunch at "Cook's Landing Kiosk" before we drove up to "Grassy Hill" which provided stunning views over the "Endeavour River Estuary" and 'Cooktown'. The "Endeavour River" was much wider than I though it would be, although the low sandy areas within the river showed how difficult it would have been for "Captain Cook" to sail his boat up there for repairs. We then headed back into 'Cooktown" and had a lovely lunch by the river. We then had 3h in 'Cooktown' to look around. It was different to what I expected, it was not as far behind the times eventhough it is quite remote (although not as remote as I was to find out later). It had lots of little tin-roof buildings and cafes and some very old buildings. As we walked down into the town beside the river we looked at the plaques and memorials that we built for Captain Cook, there was a plinth to commemorate where Cook landed the ship on the mainland in 1770. We then had to cross the wide main street (it was built so wide as the town was expected to become a big township and so have more transport using the road) to get to the "Historic Bank of New South Wales". The building was beautifully restored and housed an exhibition on the development of 'Cooktown', with old photographs and maps of the area in the early 1800s. It also had a beautifully carved cedar interior, red cedar trees are very rare and expensive items here as they were majorly felled and shipped and sold during the 1800s by the citizens of 'Cooktown'. Next we continued down the mainstreet until we reached the turnoff for "The National Trust James Cook Museum" which is situated in a well restored convent. The display was very interesting as it held items that had been recovered from the ship (such as the huge anchor and the 6th cannon - which they had to throw overboard to remove the ship from the Great Barrier Reef) and information from journals that had been written by "Cook" and some of his crew were also on display and gave you a real feeling of what went on at the time. They also had a section looking at the Aboriginal people and how the landing affected them. After the museum Matt picked us up and we began our return journey to 'Port Douglas'. On our way out of 'Cooktown' we passed the historic cemetery which was very interesting as it had a section for not only the Chinese but for Athiests. We took the "Bloomfield Track" down to the "Black Mountains National Park", this is a very special area as all between the rainforest the mountains are made from solid black rocks which can become very hot in the sun! Many people that went into the area never came back, therefore they have been nicknamed the "Mountains of Death"! We then turned off onto the "Cooktown and Mulligan Highway" which was to take us through one of the main "Goldrush" areas of Australia. The road was no longer a rough track as bitumen had been laid and so the alternative route to 'Cooktown' was much smoother (therefore making the journey available for all vehicles not just 4x4). The scenery that we passed through was georgeous, lots of hills and rolling savannah grasslands. Our final drinks stop was at "Palmer River Roadhouse" were some of the group had a beer as we looked at the Goldfield memorial and maps of where the major gold mining was done. We then stopped at "James Earl lookout" and had a great view over the valley. As we drove back I was in the front of the 4x4 and had the responsibilty of spotting cows and horses, as at dusk they tend to start crossing the road and many are killed (and kill many vehicles too) as they wander into the road. The drive back was very relaxing and we even managed to watch the sunset and cast lovely pink and purple colours through the sky. I had such a great day; Matt the guide was great as he gave us so much information as we were driving along about the areas we were travelling through and also on 'Cooktown' itself, I really enjoyed driving on the rough 4x4 style road as it gave it a real adventure feel, and finally 'Cooktown' itself was a quaint, historially interesting and picturesque place. It was really good of Lynn to organise the trip as without them I probably would not have been able to go! In the evening I had grabbed a pizza in town with Heather and Angela and then went back to the hostel for a few drinks at the bar before heading to bed - what a busy day!