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Airlie Beach

From Eungella I headed back to the coast and a little to the north, to Airlie Beach. I paid for two nights at the Island Gateway Holiday Park, and extended that today until tomorrow.

Airlie Beach is a 20 minute walk from the holiday park, but that's fine. Airlie Beach has a bit of a combined vibe going. On the one hand it's clearly the backpackers crowd, but mixed into that is the well–to–do crowd of the rented yachts and sailing boats. I kinda like it.

Yesterday I did some shopping at the IGA next to the holiday park in the morning and then later walked to Airlie Beach. Had a BLT for lunch and followed that up with a chocolate thickshake, that had me so full for the rest of the day that I more or less skipped dinner. I just ate a big piece of not–fully ripe melon and a bunch of Cadbury chocolate… You need to stay healthy of course…

The lagoon was looking so inviting yesterday, that today I packed my swimming trunks when I walked to Airlie Beach again. Went in the morning, before breakfast, so first I had a club sandwich, which was kinda bland, sad to say. Not recommended at that place… The cappucino was fine, though.

After breakfast I headed to the lagoon and settled down beneath a tree for some shade. Spent quite a while people watching, as I needed to let breakfast settle. But finally I could hold off no longer and went for a swim. Nice and cool. Definitely recommended…

So now back at my camper van, writing this. Next up is figuring out where the trip goes next. I think I'll go directly to Townsville. The Lonely Planet has some interesting things to say about that town, so I think I'll check it out.

Finding the elusive Platypus

The next day I drove back down to the Finch Hatton Gorge—last bit over unsealed road with a few shallow creek crossings—and walked up the trail to 'Araulen Falls'. A nice walk, but I felt like I could stand to walk a bit more, so I decided to go on to the 'Wheel of Fire'.

Nice walk and quite worth it. I wish I had thought ahead to bring swimming gear with me, though, because the pool at the end of the 'Wheel of Fire' trail looked mighty inviting. Ah, well, next time…

After getting a steak hamburger in Finch Hatton I drove on through to Broken River. Determined to see the little bugger I planted myself on the viewing platform and readied my camera. There was a family with two little girls there, who kept on running and stomping about on the platform, so I was losing hope of the shy platypus showing itself. Luckily the family gave up and left.

And then the magic happened. First this fellow showed up:

And then the main attraction showed up:

That's what it does, by the way. It dives down, swims about a bit on the bottom—which I couldn't see—and then resurfaces a little further up or down the river. Looks about a bit and does it again.

So, sighted in the wild, a platypus. And I even got film (but click through as it is cropped on my site for now):

Search for the elusive Platypus

On the first day at Eungella I decided to immediately try my luck to see the Platypus. So I drove out to Broken River and parked at the designated area near the Platypus Viewing Platform. I was a little early in the afternoon—best time to see the platypus should be around dawn or dusk—so I decided to walk a little along the trails marked in the area.

It's very beautiful in its own right. Nice, dense forest, with quite a lot of diversity and wild–life. Although not always easy to spot and see.

These little fellows were everywhere, however. And, although fast to scurry out of sight, still easy to spot.

So this is the small creek that is supposed to harbor the elusive Platypus.

The first expedition was not a complete failure, but all I saw was a glimpse of a Platypus diving away as I too noisily walked back on the trail to my van, already thinking I'd try next day and not paying too much attention to the water anymore. That'll show me…