Now that we are about 180kms north west of Cooktown it is probably safe to reflect on some of the characters we met and observed while there.
Our first encounter with anyone from Cooktown was with the lady managing the Peninsula Caravan Park. Firstly, entry could only be gained to the balcony of her house by invitation – ‘Ring the bell and wait for the Manager’ read the sign. Once invited into her ‘office’ she consulted her bookings system – which looked more like a receipt book. A confused discussion followed – something to do with a guy called Ito who should have been with us. Finally directions to our camp sites were given along with a reference to others who struggled with the concept of left and right only to end up at the wrong campsite, then to get half way through setting up camp to then be told by the Manager to pack up and move to their assigned site. We left and headed to what we hoped were our assigned sites; all of us were very confused with the directions given.
Next we met an Asian (this will be relevant soon) gentleman who, for 15 mins prior to approaching us, was running through the darkened camping ground shouting out something in an indecipherable Asian language. Eventually he ran in our direction ranting loudly and in a very scatter-gun manner. He could obviously tell from our blank expressions that we had no idea what he was on about. Little did he know were we also amused at his appearance – red t-shirt, red shorts and red apron with a bright head lamp fixed to his forehead. Not what you expect to come running out of the dark in a strange place.
Next there was a very strange guy who was part of the furniture in the camping store sitting opposite the service desk from where he watched the customers go by. He was an elderly guy who sat dead still in a hammock, never moving or acknowledging anyone – not even eye movement. I had to look a couple of times just to make sure he was real – his hair certainly had a very strange (some might say unkept) appearance where it randomly poked out from under a peaked cap. He was like the Mona Lisa in that you could tell his eyes followed you around the store.
More generally we noted a strange undercurrent of suspicious characters, many of whom looked to be trying to escape / hide from something and strangers, like ourselves, were a threat of some sort. We expect the character count will continue to increase now that we are heading into the deepest recesses of far north Queensland. Stay ready for further updates!
