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At Cooktown we did not land or at least only Sid and one other passenger. Everything very poor
here and a very poor town as to buildings nothing to be compared with Townsville.
Took aboard some other passengers only one Englishman and several Chinese.

At Thursday Island there is a hulk lying off which is for receiving goods that are to be sent off or
received for the town. It is large and was brought out from England, it also serves as a
depot for black fellows about to be employed in the pearl fisheries.
There were several schooners here and the floating to and fro of their boats and the mixture of ours,
negroes, Malays, Kanakas and some natives of New Guinea made
it a very lively scene. We lay alongside the hulk for discharging cargo.

On arriving at Port Darwin we were pleased with the aspect of the town. Things are
looking up more than have been for some time previously.
The schooner came alongside almost immediately we anchored and in a very short time
began to take the horses down into her hold. She is a clean tidy looking vessel
and the Captain seems a [indecipherable] fellow. Next day had a row with the Captain Brown
from Vortigern who refused to let us have any more water for the horses, he is a mean sort of
humbug. We stayed at Pickfords Hotel in Port Darwin for two days.
Charged two shillings per meal and some other bits. Board regularly is 30 shillings per week.