July 31, 2015
Looking for platypuses: What a very special world
We got up at dawn to look for platypuses again but the river here was surely too fast for them and I decided that we should try and pack up real quick and sprint the fifteen kilometres to Delegate where John had told us that he’d seen them. We raced to do this and I started cycling as fast as I could. I really wanted to see platypuses in the wild and I felt our best chance was to get to Delegate before the sun got too high in the sky. Unfortunately Dea, for the first time ever I must say, was lagging behind a bit. She got held up by a calf that had got out on the wrong side of the fence. The ever thoughtful Dea wanted to help the baby cow return to its mother, but instead accidentally kept chasing it down the road, further and further from mummy.
This slightly comical event perhaps cost us a chance to see platypuses at Delegate as there was no sign of any in the river by the time that we got down to it, but our hopes were not diminished. Far from it, in fact, because in the town we met a very friendly man who had advised us that we would probably see platypuses at Bombala, just down the road, if we went out to the Bombala Platypus Reserve. Who would have guessed?
It was another lovely day through hilly farmland. At one point I was marching ahead up a climb when I got something in my eye just before the top. As I stopped to remove it Dea passed me and then twenty metres later she reached the peak before me and said “Oh look, eight kangaroos” which I thought jolly unfortunate luck for me. I did at least see a few rabbits later on which brought the scoreboard back towards respectability.
But it wasn’t kangaroos or rabbits that we most wanted to see today, not llamas either, it was platypuses and soon we found ourselves taking the turn off a few kilometres before Bombala to the reserve. It was an idyllic setting. A viewing platform was built with an outlook over a very calm and tranquil section of river. It did indeed seem like the ideal habitat for platypuses and immediately upon our arrival we saw what we had come to see. A small animal was floating along on the surface, cutting a v-shape through the water. Then it dived down beneath the water for a minute or so before reappearing. There was no doubt it was a platypus. It was an amazing moment.
Platypuses are extraordinary creatures. With their furry bodies and duck-like bills it is well known that when the first samples were sent back to the UK for analysis their unlikely appearance meant that were initially dismissed as an elaborate hoax. Egg laying mammals that look like a cross between an otter and a duck, the friendly man we’d met in Delegate had certainly got it right when he’d described them as “funny little things.” And we were lucky enough to see a good few of them over the next couple of hours. We walked down close to the river bank and saw some of them close up too, and it was just a wonderful and amazing thing to see. As they ducked under the water to feed I would do my best to guess where they would come up next, and run to that point for a better view, then stand stock still when they came back up to the surface. I rarely guessed right but when I did it was incredible to get such a close-up encounter.
But viewing platypuses in the wild wasn’t the only extraordinary animal encounter for us at the reserve. As we were down by the bank Dea found a burrow that looked very much like it belonged to a wombat and she decided to sit and wait and watch it. Incredibly enough a wombat did appear, and it sat at the edge of the burrow and looked out at us. It didn’t seem to mind very much that we were there at all, and for a long time we sat and held one another’s stare. It was absolutely astonishing. Such a wonderful animal, and so close to us, I think I only have to show you the photos and you’ll understand how special this moment was.
We could have stayed forever in that reserve with the platypuses and the wombats but we didn’t have any water and we decided to leave the lovely creatures in peace and get through Bombala before dark. This we did, setting up camp in a field on the far side of the town. We’d just climbed another hill and so we had a good view back down over the lights of Bombala as the sun set behind it. Then we were blessed by the awesome sight of a full moon rising over the hills in the other direction. It was an incredible end to an incredible day. This was cycle touring at its very, very best. No longer was I simply rushing around the world - together we were taking our time and taking it all in. And what a very special world indeed.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 45,539 km (28,280 miles)
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