Mossman

Farewell Cooktown, we have very much enjoyed this little place.  The morning started with a swim for the kids in the pool before we headed into the markets, if you could call them that.  There were about 10 stalls spread out along the path near the park in the main street.  Most were selling food and good food at that.  One lady had the best home made pies I've ever eaten.  Two others were selling Asian goodies like spring rolls and curries, so we sampled spring rolls from both and were pretty pleased with ourselves.  The kids had a milkshake from another stall and I had a mango fruit crush from another.  And that was pretty much it.  There was a seafood van but we'd exhausted our love of seafood the night before.  Another quick drive through town and it was in the car for the trip back to Mossman, this time via the main road.  And it was lovely and totally different to the trip via the Bloomfield Track.  We drove out via the Black Rocks which were all very mysterious again.  There were termite nests as far as the eye could see alongside the road and the countryside changed as we went with sweeping valleys, lots of red dirt, endless trees and breathtaking views as we drove through the mountain ranges.  Just beautiful and probably the most like the rugged outback that I remember through NT and the top end of WA.  We were very sad to see the Weipa turn off and were tempted to head to the Cape until we saw it was another good 800km plus up the road.  The drive back took around 3 hours and the descent was lovely through Mount Molloy which is a rainforest area with spectacular views.  Home to our friends and dinner was pretty easy, pasta for the kids and a divine scallop and prawn spaghetti for the big kids when the chaos was over.  Another night of too much eating and drinking, but the company was worth it.