Outside the kitchen window.....

It never ceases to amaze me - the wildlife that wanders around our garden. at any given time. This morning I have seen sunbirds, a spangled drongo, a female wallaby with joey in her pouch, a pair of orange-footed scrub fowls, a group of figbirds and ofcourse the usual brush turkeys. This is the first time I have ever seen the scrub fowls here - I am sure they are all through the forests but not something you see everyday. I suspect it is the lovely mango's as the wallaby had a great time up there eating them.

The place is alive with sound of dropping mango's and the smell of their rotting flesh, the sweet smell of the yellow Cassia flowers and the red colours of the Poinciana. I will miss this place.

Yasi

Early 2nd Feb - watching and waiting

Sitting here a day after cyclone Yasi arrived close to Cooktown, the kids are upset that they didn't feel the full force of the Grade 5 cyclone!!!!!!! Personally I am relieved, although after so much preparation and bunkering down for a whole day with buckets and baths filled with water, having moved all our 'precious' belongings to our friends safer house and and taped up and cleared up our own house, the absolute lack of anything was a little bit of a let down.


Cooktown has to be one of the windiest places in Australia - during the dry season here the wind whips through here and the house groans and shudders constantly. I think its great because it keeps the heat and humidity away but if you dont like constant whistling wind then Cooktown is probably not for you.  So Yasi was a weird experience - all ready for it to let rip and there was less wind and rain yesterday/last night than there has been today or will be tomorrow. 
Anyway it was a great experience in what to do to prepare and our one failing was lack of battery operated radio, if the power had gone out. I twittered long into the night watching some guy in Cairns who updated every few seconds or so - fascinating this whole social media thing - up to date reports to the moment and a very real sense of community and personal experience rather than being fed the media dirge. One tweeter put it nicely - the worst thing to land on FNQ was not Yasi but the seething media of Today and A Current Affair. Too right!

Lice, mice and other things that bite!

Cooktown continues to amaze and surprise us and every day brings a new thing of beauty, a challenge, a discovery or an experience like no other.

In the last week alone let me name the various moments in our life.

1. My children continue to suffer from FNQ lice that are the size of small ponies galloping around their heads. No amount of potion, conditioner, combing, washing, etc removes them. I always remember the first time I came across lice in Sydney and I was so horrified at the concept. Now its just par for the course.



Quarantine Bay



2. Then there are the mice that have taken residence in our house....not that we can find them. They have a real penchant for wire and spend a lot of time destroying the wires in the airconditioning unit so it doesnt work. We have now had it fixed for the 6th time and filled up every hole outlet and possible entry point... and guess what - my bananas are still getting eaten during the night. The bush mouse here called a Melomys is responsible and do laugh as you imagine me wandering around in the dark of night with a torch trying to catch him. Laughable. So much for the Jack Russell sound asleep on my bed during these nightly escapades!

3. Our friends Helen and Connie who I have written of before, turned up 2 nights ago in a flurry. Their little baby Zania who has just turned one, had put a seed in her mouth and Helen was frightened that it was poisonous. Although she had rushed to the hospital, they had sent them home but they were not convinced. We looked it up in the local book - its a Sandlewood or Red Bean seed and I discovered that it is toxic if swallowed (Helen got there before it was swallowed) but interestingly is eaten in Java after being baked and is used by the Brahmans in India to colour the red dot on their foreheads. They grow everywhere here and are used extensively in jewellery making. The other red seed that is totally toxic is the Gidee Gidee seed and it would have been a problem if she had put that in her mouth. Mind you, Sean has bought me a whole necklace of Gidee Gidee seeds.........mmmm.



The local croc to be found at the Annan River



Anyway...Helen and Connie told us of a story that happened that morning - their son Gundelby (dont you love that name) had been spearing fish on the point just past the wharf in Cooktown and had just caught a large Coral trout. Suddenly from the depths he saw a dark shape and racing towards him was a large croc with its mouth open...going in for the kill. He shoved the trout at it and swam like hell, scrambling on to the rocks and safety. Needless to say he spent the rest of the day lying around in a daze and I doubt spear fishing will be on the agenda for some time. The reality is that the crocs are here and we need to be careful of that all the time.

We also heard that the Irrikanji are back - one of the local kids got stung up north of here on the weekend and had to be air lifted out by the RFDS. Thank god for the RFDS!

 

But the good things in life are plentiful - the beautiful views we never tire of, the fact that you can leave your car running with the aircon on when you go to the supermarket, you dont have problems finding a car park, there is no fear walking the streets at night, there are still wallabys bouncing around in our garden and the kids are safe riding their bikes all over the place. Lovely Cooktown.

Alkoomie Station - on top of the world!

Here is an article I wrote for the local Cooktown News which featured last week. It was well received by the locals and many of them have never been there. Its part of the new Chamber initiative to support each other locally. V

CLOSER TO HEAVEN THAN EARTH

Alkoomie Station claims it is Closer to Heaven than Earth…. and you would be forgiven for thinking that was the truth. The dirt road that you ascend to reach the homestead on top of Mt Dickson is nothing short of extreme – you need to be fearless or very experienced in a 4 wheel drive to master the, at times, 80% camber of the dirt rd.


What awaits you is the most glorious view and a lovely house set atop the plateau. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could have built such a place at the end of such an amazing road. The front lawn sits on the absolute edge of the escarpment overlooking Cooktown and the Endeavour River and Annan Rivers beyond.

The delightful Merrilyn Holmes makes you feel at home in either the Homestead (sleeps up to 12), self contained unit (sleeps up to 10) or the fully furnished tents (sleeps 6 people). You can self cater or allow Merrilyn to cook for you as you sit under the stars watching the lights of Cooktown in the distance.

As a Cooktown resident, this is a lovely option to ‘get away from it all’ - less than an hour away and it feels like another world. There were new born puppies in the stables, horses and goats roaming quietly under the trees and the opportunity to sit and enjoy the view, swing a golf club into oblivion or swim in the pretty local swimming hole.

Check out the website www.alkoomie.com.au and during the next two months Cook shire locals are being offered a 15% discount up to 20thDecember. Call Merrilyn on 4069 5463 to make a booking and by the way…she will collect you so you don’t have to make that drive yourself!



Toby at Alkoomie Homestead



A Year on...and still here!

I cannot believe that we have been here for one year and one month. It has gone so fast and we have so much still to discover. Two weeks ago I headed to Sydney for the first time since we left, to attend my School Reunion and do some business,visit the dentist and see friends. Nothing had changed which was a nice thing and it was wonderful to see everyone again. It amazed me how quickly I slotted back in to Sydney life, except for my poor feet which suffered terribly from wearing boots and other enclosed shoes, having not worn enclosed shoes for a year!!!

And thats what started me thinking about how different our life is in Cooktown and how quickly we did adapt to the huge change in our life a year ago. When I returned last week, I took off the city clothes, put on the shorts, tshirt and thongs and sat on my verandah and watched the stunning view while listening to the tropical birds flitting about. I realised how truly blessed we have been to end up here - a great town with so much beauty, history and culture.

Our week last week, for example, included Sean returning home on Tuesday with a newly made spear for Mullet fishing (see above) - the season is starting soon - made by one of the fellas that Sean works with. The next day as they were making some more spears, he had Bat for lunch - a real delicacy and favourite of the local people. Mmmmmm.......

This week I started working with the Kuku Nyungkal Rangers - an indigenous land trust who are getting themselves up and running. They hail from the wet tropics rainforest that border the dry tropics just south of Cooktown and this area features the Bennetts Tree kangaroo, Ulysses butterly and according to them some amazingly large black cats (like a Puma) that roam the land. I am helping them set up their business and get things running smoothly ad I will certainly learn a lot from them. Both Sean and I attended a 'warming' ceremony on Wed to ensure we are ok to come and go in their tribal lands without harm from the bad spirits.

Everyday is a new and interesting experience and you learn so much - I need to start blogging more so I dont forget everything we do. In the meantime the kids are well, busy learning piano and guitar, enjoying school and keeping active. Toby has been selected for an AFL team going up to Weipa to play next month so thats exciting. Today was show day here in Cooktown and both won a prize with their entries and had a great

time going on a few rides and enjoying fairy floss. Last night we put on a Bush Dance with a band called the Hillbilly Goats which was great fun - the kids danced all night long! We get it all in Cooktown! xxxx