Saturday 3rd July

There are 4 ways to get to Cooktown by sea, by air, driving the coastal road which is only for 4x wheel drive vehicles and the way we came by the sealed inland route.It took 3 and a half hours including a short stop at one of the two roadhouses which are the only places of civilisation on the route. The first thing we noticed about Cooktown was the strong wind and the rain which persisted most of the day.The rain seems to die down a bit and then come again in very strong gusts. We thought there was nothing here but was surprised to find lots of accommodation including some very classy looking places and lots of eating places again with some expensive restaurants.We are staying at the YHA motel and brought fish and chips back to our room.Yesterday was our posh eating day and Joe wanted more than 7 chips. The James Cook museum is very good in its JC section but to fill the space it has also got an indigenous and a Cooktown section which is the same as the other museum in the old bank building in the town.We drove up the headland to get the best view of the area and take photos but it was a hair raising experience in the squally wind and rain. The history walk along the waters edge is good and we took lots of photos for our Australian history tutor at the university of the 3rd agewho insisted we must take lots of photos to show the class