Proudly surveying her bustling bar, Brenda Krop is a glowing advertisement for life off the beaten track.

Five years ago, she and husband Eddie relocated from the Sunshine Coast on a romantic whim, cashing out of their real estate business and heading off, destination unknown.

At the end of the line they found the Cooktown Hotel up for sale and bought it.

“This is our first foray into hotels,” she explains.

“My husband thought it would be a nice romantic idea to have a little country hotel.

“It’s definitely not romantic, it’s a lot of hard work. We enjoy it, though.”

The highest pub on the bitumen, the Cooktown Hotel has attracted drifters and rogues since it opened in 1878

Known as The Top Pub, it is the town’s most bustling watering hole, always packed with lively, well lubricated characters – historically it was as a redoubt for those who didn’t want to talk about the past.

Since the inland road to Cooktown was sealed in 2006, bringing a steady stream of backpacker vans and tourist caravans, the dodgiest drifters have headed north on the dirt, seeking shelter up the Cape.

The end of the line for some, a starting point for others, Cooktown has played a much bigger role in Australia’s history than its size suggests.

It was here Lt James Cook fixed the HMS Endeavour in 1770, after she almost sank on the Great Barrier Reef.

According to regular Trevor Allen, “two Aboriginal elders on the beach watched Cook’s arrival. Seeing him gazing through his telescope, one turned to the other and said: ‘look at this fella, he can’t even play it properly.’”

Cook spent almost seven weeks on the river that now bears his ship’s name, repairing his keel and skirmishing with the Guugu Yimithirr people. It was in Cooktown he first saw the strange hopping creature the locals called gangurru.

The Top Pub offers patrons a packed social calendar, with entertainment every Friday night and pool competitions on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The week’s most popular event is the Saturday morning raffle run by the Lions Club.

Because it’s clientele is spread far and wide, the hotel offers a rare service – publican Eddie picks up and drops off punters at either end of their drinking shift.

A typical Top Pub regular, coral trout fisherman Glen Mitchell has been drinking in the hotel every day for years.

“I love the friendly atmosphere,” he says.

“The beer is always icy cold, off the ice, and they have great bar staff. But the cold beer is the most important thing.”

If the beer is cold, the reception is the opposite.

“The locals are so warm,” says Brenda.

“They really look after you. When we had a few problems when the lease went belly-up, they came back in, helped us stock the fridges and fix up the bottle shop. We had a tremendous amount of support.

“We’re very fortunate, they’re a lovely lot of people,” she says.

On Saturday May 22, the Cooktown Hotel hosts Dunny Day, a leukaemia fundraiser for former regular Dunny, who passed away a few years ago.

Tidbits about the Top Pub

• Opened in 1878 as a single story pub known as the White Horse Inn.

• Changed its name to The Commercial and added a second floor in 1901.

• Prostitutes used to sit at small windows attempting to lure potential customers upstairs.

• Was one of more than 45 licensed pubs in town during the Palmer River Gold Rush.

• No murders as far as anyone knows but many claim to have seen a ghost upstairs. “An old building makes lots of noise,” says landlady Brenda, “I’ve never see anyone up there.”

• Cooktown’s population is now 2900, down from more than 7000 during the Gold Rush.

• Nine rooms upstairs, mainly bunk rooms, charged at $35 a night.

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