The Cooktown Hotel advertises sunset on their verandah and we decide to take them up on their offer. The front door is shaded by a piece of striped canvas hanging down about a metre. We lift the canvas and enter the cool of the bar. It is busy and noisy and classic rock is still playing as it was earlier in the day, now it’s the Rolling Stones. We are greeted by a small shaggy dog with a big smile. We take our drinks up the steep wooden stairs and find half a dozen others on the verandah. There are small single rooms with French doors opening out onto the verandah in colonial fashion. Unlike most pubs these days this one is still taking guests and is quite busy. There’s a musician on the phone chasing guitar equipment that he ordered in Townsville three weeks ago and a family sharing a pizza that not only looks good but smells good too. The sun drops over the ranges to the aroma of garlic.

Downstairs we order the Barramundi (this is Barra country so surely it has to be ok). The kitchen smells incredibly good and there is a Thai chef. People are calling the shaggy little dog Puss Puss and sure enough that is its name. Apparently both its neighbours have cats so it learnt to come running whenever Puss Puss was called. The barra is delicious.