Cooktown
is easily the most interesting town to visit in
Cape
York and this part of Australia.
It has got such great amount of history, and so many things
to see and
do.
Bama
Aboriginal People lived here undisturbed until 1770 when Captain James
Cook got his ship damaged on the reef and needed to stop to repair it.
The stay would end up
long
enough to become known as Australia's
"first white settlement".
But that was
of course long before "Cook's Town" was built as a port
for Palmer
River gold rush.
Later, the town saw the building of Cooktown-Laura Railway, First
and Second World
War, a
few devastating fires and cyclones;
and there are displays on it all in the Historical Society and the
James Cook Museum.
What
to See and Do in Cooktown
There is some great fishing,
places
to stay, and more things to do both north and south of the
town.
Places
in Cooktown
Queensland The
waterfront parks have some
great historical
landmarks, statues and monuments. Grassy Hill lookout has the old
lighthouse and some great views over
the town. There is the interesting James Cook Museum, the lovely
Botanical
Gardens, and the historical Cooktown cemetery. NEW 2017 - and there is the new foreshore.
Fishing
in Cooktown
Cooktown
is one of the greatest places to fish in Cape York.
While
most of the fishing goes on at the wharf, there are also the rock walls
just north of it and the boat ramp area just south of it; or catch a
fishing charter to the Endeavour or Annan river, or the reef.
From the strolls in the town's
historical streets and the cemetery to a bit harder ones like Grassy
Hill, Cherry Tree Bay, Finch Bay and Botanical Gardens; and some
half serious climbs such as Mt Cook.
All are beautiful with great views.
Cooktown
Tours
There
are a few different tours available in Cooktown.
There are
town tours,
four wheel drive tours to places to the north and the south of the
town, and trips to the rivers
and the ocean - fishing and croc spotting. You can also visit
Cooktown on a tour from Cairns
or Port Douglas.
Cooktown
Festival
In case you are around at the time of the Queen's birthday weekend, you
can
enjoy this great event and learn the history through re-enactment of
the arrival and stay of Captain
James Cook in 1770.
The three day festival also has a lot of
other
fun, competitions and performances.
There
are two hotels, a few motels, a resort, a backpackers hostel and four
caravan parks. There is now also cheap camping but only for self
contained vehicles, meaning vans with own toilet and shower facilities.
Hotels
in Cooktown Australia
The
old pubs of Cooktown are some of the best historical buildings
in the main
street.
They are good and popular, with beer gardens, they serve great
meals, they have accommodation, they put on
some great entertainment, and they sell alcohol from their bottle shops.
Cooktown
Restaurants
There are many nice places to eat. The finest dining is at the
Fisherman's Wharf and Sovereign Resort.
Other good places are the
Thai and Italian Restaurant and Seagren's Inn. A great place for lunch
is the Cook's Landing Kiosk, and popular with locals is the Cooktown
Cafe.
What's
Around Cooktown
North
of Cooktown
North
of the town are the airport, a few places to stay, Endeavour Falls
(behind a caravan park), the Aboriginal
community of Hopevale, and
the beautiful
drive across
some large white sand
dunes to
Coloured Sands, Elim
Beach and Cape Bedford.
And north of that is the beautiful and adventurous Cape Flattery.
South
of Cooktown
South
of the town are Keatings
Lagoon,
the Old Annan River
Bridge, Walker
Bay,
Archer Point,
Trevethan Falls and Black
Mountain National
Park.
Further
south are the Little Annan River Gorge, and the Helenvale Bloomfield
Road - that ends at the start of the famous Bloomfield
Road.
Cooktown
Tours
There are
a few different Cooktown tours.
And they
are
quite a handy way to see
what there is
in and outside the town, without
spending too much time on planning and looking yourself. In the
town,
there are
historical town
tours.
Outside, there are
tours to Black
Mountain National Park, Cape
Tribulation and
Daintree Rainforests,
Aboriginal
cultural tours, as well as four wheel
drive adventure tours to Bloomfield
Road
and elsewhere in southern
Cape York.
On the water
there are river
cruises, ocean and reef cruises, as well
as
sightseeing and fishing trips. All the
Cooktown tours are
listed in
full detail (with companies, prices and contact details) in the
Destination
Guide.
The New Cooktown Foreshore
The new Cooktown foreshore is
fantastic.
It is the new area behind the wharf.
It was finally finished in 2017,
after many years of work. It overlooks the beautiful mouth of Endeavour
River, ... with the beautiful hills of the Cooktown north shore in
the background. There are picnic tables, ... picnic shelters, ... just park benches to enjoy the views. There are exercise machines,
... drinking water and
change rooms, ... the new waterpark that kids love, ... and lookout points. Great day time for a picnic lunch,
... or for an evening time exercise / walk,
... or why not bring a picnic dinner :-)
Did You
Like Cooktown?
Did you Go to Cooktown?
Or do you live there? Do you have a story, a question or maybe a tip to other travellers? Other readers want to hear!
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Lions Den and the Road a Month after Cyclone Ita Road from Lakeland to Lions Den pub is accessible to all traffic / some minor delays with roadworks - camping grounds are back to normal after the cyclone, …
I will always miss Cooktown! When talking to backpackers in Australia about their travelling to Far North Queensland many of them visited Cairns and Cape Tribulation and then they …
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This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.