We pitched camp at the Platypus Bush Camp which is run by a very eccentric old guy named Wazza who must have lived here all his life, and smoked herbs for just as long!! This place is as natural as they come, with no power and really odd bush showers that are open to the bush - conveniently Wazza was building his new lodge within view of these ;)
Before the sun went down, we took a look at the platypus pool next to the camp, but didn't see anything stirring, so headed over to Broken River. The platypus is supposed to be a very shy animal, only coming out at dawn or dusk, and is very easily disturbed. However, this isn't so at broken river, and they are very used to humans. We could stand on the platform chatting to other sight-seers, looking down on the tortoises gathered below, and the platypus just ignored us and went about their business. The tortoises were very inquisitive and kept looking up at us.
The viewing platform was perfect as it was elevated a few mtrs of the ground, so we could look down into the water to spot the animals (which is far easier than trying to spot things when you are at water level). Spotting platypus is fairly easy - you just look for the air bubbles coming up to the surface. This is sometimes confusing with some gases produced by decaying leaves on the river bed, and the little insects that skim the water, but you soon spot the difference ;) You just have to follow the trail of bubbles as they move, then every few minutes the platypus pops to the surface for air, and you can see these cute little marsupials properly...
Back at the campsite, Wazza invited everyone round to his place after dark to sit by his fire and swap yarns with the other travellers. This was quite interesting as we got chatting to this family from the Mississippi who were travelling for a year. We're not convinced that this is great for the kids (about 11 and 8), but they said they had school work to do and submit whilst away. The mum was somewhat religious and was continuously saying that we were going to get married sooner or later, and we just kept saying to her, "we'll see, we haven't really thought about that yet, we're just enjoying our travelling", but she just didn't get it and kept trying to convince us...
Next day we were up early (noisy birds) so headed back to the pool and we caught a glimpse of something moving on the far bank. The way its head cruised through the water, we thought it was a platypus, so sat deadly still, hoping it would come closer to us. After swimming along that far back a couple of times, it headed towards us and we thought we were going to get a real good glimpse of the platypus. As it got closer, we realised it wasn't swimming quite right, and that it was green, not brown. We stood up on our logs as we realised that this snake was coming onto shore, and into the bushes, just next to us. We're not sure if this snake is poisonous, but we didn't hang around to find out!! We gave it a couple of minutes to move away, then stomped our way back to camp ;)
Following day:
Today is Sunday, and we headed to Finch Hatton Gorge to see the waterfalls and do some more forest walks. Not too long after heading into this dense forest area we came across two Auzzie guys who had stopped dead. They had spotted something on the track so we joined them to see what was going on... when we finally discovered what they were looking at and were grateful that they discovered it first and not us. It was a large 2mtr long python laid out across the footpath, blocking our way. This snake was really beautiful, with some gorgeous colours, and it was laid there so peaceful without a care in the world. We got really close, and got a few photos, kind of hoping it would shoot off into the bush so we could continue our walk. However, it wasn't gonna budge for us, or anyone else. Eventually, the locals stepped over it (tail end ;) and it didn't blink an eyelid. We were a bit more cautious and took a bit more care and time to pass before running once over it ;)
We saw loads of lizards (skinks and geckos) along the way and passed the Auzzie guys too as they were sitting on the back having a drink. We discovered why they were so chilled at the sight of the python - their eski was full of beers!! A bit odd for 8:30am!
At the end of the track, was a nice waterfall and swimming hole, and as the sun was out, Marc checked no-one was around before doing a speedy change into his boardies. It took a bit of courage to go in, and the water felt a bit cool. Once in the shallows, the temperature seemed ok, so Marc dove into the deeper part, only to discover that the sun hadn't yet heated this part. He was soon out and drying off in the sunshine ;)
On the way back to the car we treaded very carefully - and somewhat noisy - as we couldn't find the python. It was a bit scary knowing what was out there but needing to continue our journey. We were also really glad to have done this walk early as it was reaching 10am and boiling hot!!
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