Sundays in Cooktown

 In the post-Yasi period wehad a lot of rain but now are experiencing beautiful sunny days. Despite the sun, the roads and rivers are still boggy and full which makes getting about and exploring difficult.  So last Sunday it was time for a walk to one of our favourite haunts - Cherry Tree Bay. After a hefty walk up Grassy Hill we hit the beautiful path that takes you down to Cherry Tree Bay.

The wildflowers at this time of year are plentiful and there is a great variety. As we headed down to the bottom of the hill, the usually dry gully was a racing creek.  At the beach we found several large but broken sea urchin shells and then we found one perfect and intact one. 

There are lots of croc signs around at the moment as everyone knows there is a huge croc that travels from the Endeavour River to Quarantine Bay. People have stopped walking their dogs in the evenings at Finch Bay because the croc watches and waits. Despite that, Max went for a swim and then played games with a very stroppy crab.

We checked out a turtles nest but the edge of the beach but found that with all the rain and high tides, they have been washed away. Nice to know that a few green turtles have been coming into Cherry Tree Bay to lay their eggs.  The sea is still a dirty colour - the river is still full of mud and debris and its still washing out to sea. Despite that, I hear there a few fish around and people have been doing ok with fishing at the wharf and off the rocks. 

Anyway we had a lovely walk and felt much better having expended lots of energy and drunk litres and litres of water.

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!

The Wet

King tide at Finch Bay

Wet Endeavour River from our verandah

Despite the fact that I am a Sydney-sider from birth, which is prone to massive rains and a tropical style climate, I am still learning about the reality of life in Far North Queensland and the 'real' wet. It brings with it a lot of different experiences and features............

White-Lipped Green tree frog

Funny sign

• Even with the sun shining, the humidity is so high that your clothes wont ever dry outside
• Something called the Cupboard Hippo is now my best friend - Things grow so fast in the wet and the heat that our lovely view has been almost totally obscured by the Poinciana trees in our garden and all the trees, bushes and grass grew so much in the month we were away over Christmas that I felt like Sleeping Beauty when we returned.
• Cooktown people have great stamina for living in these conditions - many of the them live in sheds with few walls or coverings to shield them from the wet.
• My sons piano teacher made it to his lesson yesterday late - her husband had used the flying fox to get across the creek (their usual means of transport to get across the creek and then walk 1km down the rd to where they park their car) and left it on the other side. Kathy had to walk thigh deep in the creek to get the tinny to get across the creek before the walk! Thats dedication.
• Cooktown people also have great senses of humour - see the pic attached of the sign we found outside one persons place, complete with an umbrella and a light if it was dark!
• The sound of frogs night and day is amazing and the lovely White-lipped green tree frogs leap at our windows at night chasing moths and gecko's
• The fact that there are still two river/creek crossings that can cut us off from Mareeba/Cairns etc with a nominal amount of rain - so no papers today as the truck couldn't get through.
• That the most amazing fungus grows in the bush and gardens in a variety of colours never seen before...and looks a bit...well!

Well, off to wash the kids clothes before school starts on Monday - just cant get rid of the musty smell........

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



Strange days & Sorry business

It's an interesting thing up here (or any small community) - you cant hide from anything - the layers fall away and for good and bad, you are left fairly stripped bare.  At the same time you feel like you are savouring more of life than in a city where there are so many layers and anonymity - you can get away from it all.

Sean has been on an incredible journey for the last 16 months and should be writing this himself but doesnt feel he can at present.  His closest work partner - the man representing the farmers of Hope Vale - lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last week having been diagnosed in May. It is a huge loss for Sean as he was the entree and conduit to all families and warring clans of Hope Vale and was a true gentleman and fighter for what he believed in. The bitter sweet of anything like this has been the other friendships Sean has made since Eddie became sick and he is very close to all Eddie's family, brothers and sisters.

So it was a great honour bestowed on Sean last week when he was asked to help the family write the eulogy and then to help the men prepare the body for burial. Aboriginal people up here prepare and bury their own - that is the tradition and Sean found himself on Thursday morning at the Cooktown hospital facing the body of his good friend and mentor, Eddie. Needless to say it was all a 'full-on' experience for the day as they washed and prepared the body, dressed him in his working clothes of shorts and cut off short that Eddie always wore, and placed him in the coffin.

Camping...Cape York style

The funeral (known as Sorry business) was held yesterday in Hope Vale at the Lutheran church which is a lovely weatherboard building with open windows and fans. The first part of the service was an open casket viewing and families were able to say goodbye to Eddie. Unfair when he was only 59. The rest of the service was the dour claptrap of the Lutheran Pastor (sorry for any great believers out there) and the more i listen to this kind of %*?! the less I am a believer. Maybe its because I have sat and listened to a total of 6 hrs of Lutheran sermons in the last 3 months - more than I have been to church in years - and as life takes me along I really question what its all about.  As Sean says if you are going to go to church at least enjoy it - he wants to bring in some gospel singers and liven up the dirges sung by the Lutherans. Not likely I imagine seeing they banned the local Guugu Yimithirr peoples of Hope Vale and region from singing and dancing in the middle of the century, effectively losing much of their cultural heritage, which is passed on that way.



Isabella Falls


Anyway Eddie was buried by his own and every one helped until his grave was filled in and lots of flowers placed on top. Sean BBQ'd a couple of cows (it looked like that much meat) and the community came together to eat and celebrate the life of Eddie. We left and headed up to Normanby station for the night after a bathe in the local Isabella Falls - to wash away the red dust of Hope Vale and the reality that is life....death.



Cooling off



Work in Cooktown

Late afternoon sun is glowing across the Endeavour River, I am stumbling through the back of my house, tripping over piles of leaves gathered by the Brush turkeys and crawling over rocks and through bushes.....all to get to a meeting with the Mayor. It does make me laugh, as I wander along in my thongs, about the dress code and style of meetings in Cooktown as opposed to the big city. Shorts and thongs are ok and if you havent got a tattoo you dont really fit in!


Quandong



The rest of my time at the moment is spent driving 40 kms to a glorious place called Home Rule which sits on Wallaby Creek, a clear fast flowing creek that tumbles over granite rocks...and is crocodile free! Surrounded by the most magnificent wet tropics rainforest with towering trees and vines we see lots of wallaby's, the occassional tree kangaroo and many butterflies and birds.

Native nutmeg

Out there I am still working with the Kuku Nyungkal Rangers and learning heaps about their bubu (country) and their flora and fauna. I find it so difficult to pronounce the words they try and teach me - there is just some way they annunciate things that I dont think any westerner will ever be able to mimic. In return I am doing plans for them regarding Visitor Management and Tourism which is so interesting. 

They take me to sacred sites and show me all the trees that are scar trees where the tribes have in the past cut bark from trees to make shields, bowls, and other weapons, leaving scars on the trees.

Sean came home two days ago with a woomerah to go with his spear, given to him by Neville. He just has to learn how to use it! And catch a mullet!



Sean Creek one of the rangers