McKay,
Australia
Thursday, December 21, 2006
We've just come back from one of the best things we've ever done, and we nearly didn't do it! I really wanted to see a Platypus in the wild in Oz but I thought it would be a case of trekking for days into the bush and waiting patiently for a few days to even have a chance and with linited time here I didn't think for a minute that we would do it so I was resigned to a visit to the zoo. I then read that we were going within 100 kms of a national park where its basically a sure thing to see one. However with no wheels it was a bit of a mission to get out there. Tours were expensive and there is no public transport. after much ummming and ahhing we decided to get off the bus at the nearest time and see if we could hire a car at a decent rate for 24 hrs and if not we'd just get the next bus out of there. It was a success, we had a car within an hour of getting off the bus and were platypus bound! We stopped for lunch at Finch Hatton Gorge which was beautiful and we saw a Kookaburra, the first one since we arrived. We carried on to the national park stopping on the way for homemade passion fruit ice cream and then for a beer at a chalet with stunning views, 5 kms on was Broken River where the Platypus' live, just 500m up the road was our campsite so we set up the tent and headed to the platypus viewing platform. after 30 mins one appeared, at first it was the other side of the river but he came closer and as dusk came more and more came out, we saw at least 4 and one swam right under the platform. It really was amazing, they are v cute and smaller than I expected. the best bit was we were the only ones there, other people had come along earlier but when there wasn't a platypus leaping around under their noses after 2 mins, they left..............I won't go off on one but u can imagine my thoughts about the instant gratification that people expect these days O'm sure!
We were up at dawn to try to see more of the furry fellows (dawn and dusk r the best times ro see them). Not a lot happened but we did see one and he swam right under us again so it was worth the 4.30 am alarm! We headed back to town with big grins and boarded the bus for our penultimate stop on the east coast, Airlie Beach, the jumping off point for cruises to the Whitsunday Islands.
