Cooktown, Queensland, 17-18 July 2022
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Click on any image to see it larger (If you are on a PC at least).

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From the bush camp (posts Laura Bush Camp 1 and 2, with much more rock art), we returned to Laura and then to Cooktown.  However, the journey back from the bush camp was quite different for me than the way in.  I was hit by gastro on the last night there.  I have been to several countries including India and Madagasacar where you need to be careful about directly or indirectly consuming water without having problems but it didn’t occur to me I might need to take care within Australia and fulled my camel (backpack water container) with tap water at Laura.  The bouncy and speedy drive in on the tiny four wheel drive was great fun but the journey out was torture and they had to stop several times so I could vomit at the side of the road.  From Laura we went straight to Cooktown and I also stayed in bed for all of the next day.

That next day Jools went out and got some medicine for gastro from the Chemist.  Unfortunately, we later found it produces hallucinations when you are dehydrated, which is what happens with gastro.  I got up during the night for a piss and didn’t turn the light on so as not to disturb Jools.  I then saw dogs and cats in the corners of the room though I knew they were not real.  Walls completely changed in appearance from one look to the next.   The short trip to the toilet became a maze and I became quite disoriented and repeatedly bumped into things.  We were in a split level apartment and I ended up falling down the four steps to the lower level in the dark.  I bruised my left forearm and severely bruised the palm of my left hand.  It took months for my left hand to fully recover but I didn’t hit my head so it could have been much worse.  Also, I am right-handed, otherwise I might not have been able to use the camera.

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Mouth of the Endeavour River from Grassy Hill Lookout.

The day after that I was semi-recovered and we went for a short drive in the afternoon.  We did not see much of Queenstown in our time there but at least our accommodation was a good place to recover.

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Grassy Hill Lighthouse from 1886.

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Hibiscus flowers nearby.

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I think this is Finch Bay, not far from Grassy Hill.

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In the late afternoon we visited the bird hide at Keating’s Lagoon.

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These are images from trees in the river along the way.

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I might have been able to get closer images off the path except that the crocodile warning signs made that inadvisable.  More images from here in the next post.

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The following day we joined a rock art tour with Culture Connect and set off along this road.

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We stopped at a river crossing that we later drove through.

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Looking down the river.

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Later, on foot, a stream crossing requiring care when carrying camera gear.

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Rock art.  Kangaroo.

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Lungfish maybe?

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Turtles on the left.

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We walked to another rock art site.

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Crocodile, northern quoll perhaps, cassowary (maybe emu), fish, head of the previous figure.

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Crocodile.

This image and the next one were taken looking upwards in a cramped overhang space that was logistically quite awkward.

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Xanthorrhoea flower cone.

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View from the road on the way out.

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