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Day 70 - Petrie Park, Tiaro to Hervey Bay
Crikey it was cold last night! Brrrrrrrrr! When the alarm went off at 6.15 this morning we both groaned but we really wanted to see the platypus again and figured our best opportunity to do that was when everyone else was still asleep and the wildlife was only just waking up! Catch them unaware, that was the plan!!
We grabbed a hot drink each, a towel to sit on, the binoculars, oh and of course the camera! We’d found a little spot yesterday which gave us a good view of the river but we were sort of hidden behind some overhanging branches! Sitting quietly at that time of the morning is easy and we’d only been there about ten minutes when we had our first glimpse of the golden prize, the beautiful Platypus! He was blissfully unaware of us and swam around for quite a while before he dived back into the river only to come up again right at our feet! Fantastic! We had such a clear view of him and then watched the bubbles go further down the river. We headed back to the caravan and met John,
a fellow camper, on the way back. He rushed back to get his wife Lesley who really wanted to see the Platypus so we showed them our secret hideout but unfortunately the little fellows didn’t show up again. We’ve spent a lot of time watching the wildlife here but how different that might be in the future if the proposed damming of Mary River is allowed to go ahead. The local community is up in arms about it and there’s posters all down the main highway ranging from ‘Save our lungfish’ to ‘Hello Mary, goodbye Dam’ and ‘It’s just DAM vandalism’ then ‘Turtles can’t climb ladders’ and finally ‘Don’t DAMage the Mary’. Seemingly there’s been a billion dollars spent on a dam project but now it looks like it’s not going to proceed, fingers crossed the decision stays that way
Our fire was still hot from last night so we made good use of it, bacon and eggs for breakfast, very tasty! The wind had got up this morning and it was chilly so we re-lit the fire and were soon joined by Lesley, John and Maryse all wanting to keep warm! Lesley and John are a hoot and
it’s a shame they didn’t come across last night, they’ve done a lot of travelling including some months in Europe in a beaten old transit van!
The clock strikes 9am and our tranquil setting is changed in dimension with the arrival of a large family who pretty much take over the place! They’re cooking lunch on the BBQ’s, the kids are playing by the riverbank, the chaps are fishing - it’s great to see. There’s also a guy racing model powerboats, we’re pretty sure the platypus are 100 miles away now!!
We packed up and said our goodbyes, Lesley and John the Tassie Tumbleweeds have kindly given us their contact details for when we arrive in Tasmania. Hopefully they’ll be home and we’ll be able to catch up with them although we kind of hope our paths will cross before then. We wish Maryse well and send our love back to Mt Warning, if we ever get back that way then we’ll be sure to look up this fabulous lady and we promise to get in touch with her UK friends when we return home next year.
So we hit the road again, this time heading for
Hervey Bay. It’s not too long a journey so we arrive with plenty of time to complete the washing, trip organising, shopping for supplies and still manage to get out on the bikes for a cycle around! It’s a nice town and there are plenty of people about with a live band playing in one of the café bars and people racing their remote control cars at the other end of town!
So, that was today and tonight’s dinner was leftover campfire stew which was really tasty!
We’re off to Fraser Island for the day tomorrow, in a Hummer! Should be fun!!
Speak to you soon
Dar and Sar
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Lckiwis
Lynne Crump
Well done for seeing a platapus!
Hi there Well done, we are still yet to see a platapus in the wild, done lots of looking, especially in Tassie. Seen them in wildlife parks. It's warm and sunny here, we crossed into WA today, had to get rid of all our vege and fruit. Got searched at the border, they didn't like my sliced frozen lemons - dam , thought they would be great in my g & t. In Kununurra for a week or so. Look forward to you eventually catching up to us. Temp here 31 today, now 25 at 7.30pm, no wind! Lovely. Cheers lynne and Chris