Platypus Viewing at Eungella

Finally it was the right time of day for platypus viewing!  They are active at dawn and dusk.  We headed to the township of Eungella where the Broken River has three viewing areas.  It was a popular spot. The first creatures we saw were turtles.  We even saw a tiny baby turtle but he didn’t show up in my pictures.  The kids were excited to see turtles after our recent turtle feeding experience. Later in our walk I found this sign that talked about how turtles can absorb oxygen through bottoms and smell through bumps on their chins.  Wow! We waited and watched, trying to keep quiet since there were other people around and they were all very quiet.  I didn’t see a sign saying that platypuses are sensitive to noise until we got to one of the other viewing areas.  We must have missed it at this first one. We didn’t have to wait long.  Look!  A platypus! (I didn’t have my zoom lens, so this is as good as it gets!) They only surface for 10-20 seconds at a time, then dive in search of more food. We had the best luck at the first viewing area we visited, and I managed to get just one on video.    We followed the very nice boardwalk to the next viewing area, which was under a bridge.  We didn’t see any platypuses here and there was no one else around so we kept moving to the third spot. The trail included a nice boardwalk and some cute decorations along the way. There were more people at this end, all silently watching the water for movement.  A lady told me they’d seen a very large one and a very small one here. While we waited I learned that platypuses store food in cheek pouches and come back up to the surface to eat.  They mash their food more than chew it.  I also learned they hunt with their eyes, ears, and nostrils shut! We waited for as long as we could manage after our long day.  We did see one surface a couple of times, but we still had a good drive back to Mackay so we didn’t hang around too long. We found this next to the trail, I’m sure it wasn’t an actual seat but it was the right size for the kids and they all wanted a picture in it. So, so happy we got to see some platypuses in the wild!  Somewhere we were I saw a platypus crossing roadsign but didn’t get a picture, I was hoping there would be one here but no such luck.  Since it had been such a long day and we were getting back into town late with no good prospects for dinner we treated ourselves to Subway sandwiches, an rare treat that we all enjoyed.   It had been a long, lovely day!