Photos From The Road #7 - In Search Of The Elusive Platypus
In Search Of The Elusive Platypus
During my coastal journey along the East Coast of Australia I decided to take a short detour inland to the Queensland Hinterland, in search of the elusive Platypus...
Near the city of Mackay along the sweltering hot coast rise the mountains f the Eungella National Park.
While the lowland Coast is humid, hot, sweaty and full of crocodiles the nearby mountain range is cool, misty and home to the rather less dangerous Platypus.
I drove inland along slowly winding roads, past huge sugar cane plantations and upwards into the lush, green rain forest coated mountains.
The Broken River
The National Park followed the contours of the Broken River, pioneerland a hundred years ago when Europeans made their way north from Brisbane to settle here.
The land has been home though for thousands of years to local Indigineous tribes though sadly they were mostly forced from their ancestral lands.
Much of the wildlife suffered too. Platypus were hunted for their rare furs.
These aquatic creatures are renowned for their waterproof lining, similar to a wetsuit, which traps in heat under waterproof layers to allow the platypus to stay in rivers and water.
These creatures are shy and elusive, and were almost hunted to extinction. They are now protected and in the mountains along the Broken River, the National Park here has become a haven and conservation area for them.
In search Of The Platypus
At the Broken RiverI hiked along small riverside paths, over a creaky old bridge and then underneath the wooden planks in search of the platypus.
The platypus live in these waterways, hunting for small insects and fish during the dark hours, and hiding away in nests during the day.
It was early, the sun had just risen and this was the best opportunity to see Platypus in the wild.
These animals are mammals, but they actually lay eggs. A biological trait which for years led the public in England to believe this was a hoax from some far off land.
The platypus was not a hoax, just a demonstration of how different and diverse the huge land of Australia really is.
Keeping as quiet as I could I waited patiently for a platypus. When hunting they are able to hold their breath for up to 15 minutes, and being small and fast they are difficult to spot in the murky waters.
The easiest way to see them is to follow the air bubbles they release to the surface and just wait, patiently for them to surface.
After waiting and waiting and failing to spot Platypus, following bubble trails and splashes in the water, I saw my first Platypus and the aquatic animal then stayed on the surface for a photo shoot....
Can you spit the turtles in the water too??
All words and pics by Richard Collett!
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Oh my God!!! I am so jealous. I have been trying to see a platypus in the wild for years. These shots are wonderful. I had no idea they had been hunted. So glad to see they are protected now.
They wee in the verge of extinction I believe, things are looking up now though!
That would have been a tradgedy. They are my favourite Australian animal. Just for the ridiculousness of all their different bits. I always imagine God had all these excess animal parts left over and threw them together to make a platypus.
I lived in Australia for 5 years and have visited every year or so before and after. Only this past November did I see a wild platypus!! It was just outside of kosciuszko National Park.
But I didn’t get a picture. 😭
You are so lucky.
The first time we saw one was completely random at the Jenolan Caves river outside! Didn't expect to see one. And the second time was at the same spot as you @traveltramp - my partner actually did a river dive (not in the broken river) and it said that you can potentially dive with platypus it's pretty rare though. We really loved the area, we stayed at cottage at the top of the mountain, went to see the platypus in the morning and we even did some flying fox in the forest which was nice too.