What to do and see in Cooktown, Queensland: The Best Things to do Good for Big Groups

With three consecutive Certificates of Excellence under our belt, Riverbend Tours offers a unique Sunset Cruise experience in crocodile country on the Endeavour River in Cooktown. Board Nautilus late in the day. Be sure to bring your own bottle of wine and prepare yourself for a magnificent Cape York sunset. We will explore the harbour in the long afternoon light and then head upstream to watch the sunset over the distant ranges. While navigating the maze way of smaller creeks we serve a complimentary gourmet cheese platter featuring produce from Gallo's, an award winning local dairy. After dark, spotlights add a whole new perspective to the impenetrable walls of mangrove that line the river. Listen to some stories about Cook’s infamous passage along the Cape, about devastating cyclones, about the glory days of pearling luggers and about the new Cooktown, gateway to the frontier. Affordably priced at $49, this sunset cruise can make for a wonderfully peaceful way to end the day.

The James Cook Museum is set in a stunning nineteenth-century convent, and houses an original anchor and cannon from the HMB Endeavour, and an extensive collection of local Guugu Yimithiir artefacts. The museum tells the story of the interaction between Captain James Cook and the indigenous people – it is a story that is integral to Australian history, told from both perspectives, and is the first recorded act of Reconciliation. The museum showcases the fascinating heritage of Cooktown – set on the banks of the Endeavour River.

Grassy Hill offers a 360 degree view of Cooktown, the Endeavour River and the Great Barrier Reef. Although now quite heavily forested, Grassy Hill is so known because local aboriginals deliberately burnt the forest on the hill to encourage re-growth of vegetation and draw animals to the area for hunting. The landscape you see today from the top of the hill has changed little since Captain James Cook and the crew of the HMB Endeavour climbed Grassy Hill in 1770 to view the surrounding reefs enabling him to navigate a safe passage. The views today, especially at sunset and sunrise, are still as spectacular as in 1770 making Grassy Hill one of Cooktown's most popular attractions.

Nature's PowerHouse, a large interpretive centre stunningly situated within Cooktown's historic Botanic Gardens, houses the nationally significant Vera Scarth-Johnson botanical illustrations, a natural history display, gift store, and café, as well as being the Cook Shire Visitor Information Centre.