Cooktown

Doctors and a beasterly easterly

11 November 2022 / 5 Comments

On the south-western shores of Australia when the storm clouds of winter has passed
The sun rises high in a clear assure sky and summer is with us at last
You can fry an egg on the pavement or burn your feet on the sand
So we’ll wait for the breeze, the stiff summer breeze to cool the old city again

“The Fremantle Doctor” Words Patrick O’Leary, music Carmel Charlton from her 1993 Songs of the West Album

No matter where you are, you will experience strong winds.… Read more

The banana (and sugar and pineapple) state – a look at some major food crops in the Queensland tropics

25 June 2022 / Leave a Comment

Driving around tropical North Queensland, we have seen and walked in remarkable rainforest-clad mountains and viewed beautiful coastal scenery. However, one of the more enduring memories was the actual extent of banana, sugar cane and pineapple farms.

I was exposed to banana and sugar cane farming in my youth. When I lived in Maryborough (Queensland) in the early 1980s, sugar cane was a dominant enterprise.… Read more

The Cooktown Crescendo

25 June 2022 / 1 Comment

Cooktown represents the most northern point we have travelled in Australia thus far. Like others do when up this way, we could have continued our trip to the tip of Cape York. But for now, not for us. Maybe next time when we are better prepared.

Everywhere you look in Cooktown there is a reminder of Lieutenant Cook, the repairs to the Endeavour and the botanical and faunal collections of Banks and Solander.… Read more