Queensland Road Trip 9: Cooktown - Kath & Dave & Papuan Frogmouth

Papuan Frogmouth

Following our visit to Shiptons Flat (see next post) we moved on to Cooktown, where we spent 3 days at the home of our good friends Kath Shurcliff and David Houghton. We were most impressed with the building skills that Dave employed to erect their wonderfully tropical abode.

Kath & Dave in Cooktown

We visited several spots around Cooktown including the Botanic Gardens (which adjoins their property) and the lookout where Captain Cook surveyed the reef after The Endeavour ran aground offshore.

Endeavour River fromm Lookout Hill

We checked out Finch Bay, the Endeavour River National Park, the old railway track to the cemetery, Keatings Lagoon, Walker Bay and Quarantine Bay with its granite beach.

Quarantine Bay

We found some more White-streaked Honeyeaters in the national park, just a few kilometres from town. 

Keatings Lagoon

At Keatings Lagoon we saw another Little Kingfisher.

Little Kingfisher

And a pair of Green Pygmy-Goose.

Green Pygmy-Goose

Large-billed Gerygone also showed here.

Large-billed Gerygone

A nice Tropical Scrubwren was seen along the road to Walker Bay (again, thanks to Kath & Dave for site information). This bird looked decidedly more marked and colourful than the scrubwrens seen at Shiptons Flat - an area that marks both the northern and southern extremes of the range of quite a few bird species.

Tropical Scrubwren

Helmeted Friarbird and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater were common about Kath and Dave's home. We were bothered by unseasonally wet weather but it was a pleasure to again visit this delightful town, our visit marking the half-way point for our trip both in terms of distance and time..

Helmeted Friarbird

Yellow-spotted Honeyeater

A Papuan Frogmouth was found at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens.

Papuan Frogmouth