Cooktown

After two days at sea it was nice to step off the ship and feel the land under our feet once again.  Not that we don't love the days at sea, in fact when we choose a cruise we make sure there are plenty of them!
Cooktown and surrounds, as you all know, is very familiar to us with it being only a couple of hours drive north of where we live. We come to Cooktown every November for the Cooktown Cup and we love camping at the coloured sands north of Cooktown at Elim Beach.

You can just see the coloured sands in the background

The tender ride into Cooktown from our ship is quite a long one, taking about half an hour and on this particular tender ride we got talking to a couple of from San Diego and two fellow Aussies from Darwin.  The couple from San Diego were under the impression they could go swimming in the ocean at Cooktown!  We explained to them about the dangers of swimming in these waters with many Crocodiles and the deadly Irukandji Jelly Fish lurking in the crystal blue, and very inviting, water.  It is such a shame but it is what it is.

Once on land we walked the main street of Cooktown with our Darwin buddies before going our separate ways.  I was on a mission to buy Vegemite, Cough Mixture and Panadol that we found in the local IGA.  After our completed mission we headed to the Sovereign Hotel for a "coldie".  It was very hot walking around so it was a very welcome beverage and I usually don't drink beer!

The line up to get back on to the tender to take us to the ship was long so we sat in the shade and waited for the line to decrease in number before taking our place.  When we just about to board the tender they announced that they were full!  Another long wait....

Once we were back on board we had a light lunch in La Veranda then went and changed into bathers to - you guessed it - laze by the pool.
We had an excellent dinner in Compass Rose that evening and my entree of prawn dim sum with steamed bun was right up there on taste and presentation. Yummo.