Black Mountain & Keatings Lagoon

Not too far from Cooktown are a couple of mountains covered in heaps and heaps of black rocks.  It looks like at some point in the past it must have rained black rocks all over these mountains.  It’s named…are you ready? Black Mountain National Park.  Because, you know, the mountains look black. You can’t really hike the mountain, you can only observe it from the lookout.  Underneath all those rocks there can be gaps and people have been injured in the past. It makes for an interesting sight, the mountains are very striking against the surrounding landscape. Also near Cooktown is Keatings Lagoon which we stopped to have a look at.  There was a crocodile warning sign, but there was a well-defined path and other people coming out with no mention of croc sightings.  We just stayed away from the water. As we walked along the path we were lucky to see a green ant nest right at a good viewing level.  They were very busy.  We got to the viewing area and were blown away by the sheer number of lily pads.  I have never seen so many lily pads!  They stretched as far as we could see up the lagoon. Every so often a breeze would come through, sending all the flowers into motion all across the water.  It was almost eerie, making you think something was moving under the water.  Please excuse all the lily pad pictures, I was slightly fascinated. We watched from the safety of the platform. Some of us enjoyed running up and down the bridge instead. Two quick stops on our journey that are unlike anything else we’ve seen!  So much to see in this country, and we aren’t even halfway.