Down by the Banks

Trip Start Jun 07, 2010

Trip End Jun 23, 2010

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Flag of Australia Yungaburra, Queensland, Australia
Friday, June 18, 2010

Mrs. Swearingen decided to trek down to the stream early in the morning. On the way she saw a kookaburra, which is a famous Australian bird. She hiked down to the stream, where it was quite lovely – quiet, peaceful, and pretty. Mrs. Swearingen liked the stream, but was hoping to see something else – a strange little animal unique to Australia; a mammal that lays eggs and has a bill like a duck. What do you think she was looking for?
Next Mrs. Swearingen walked up to where the stream flowed higher up. As she fought through the trees, she came upon a nice rocky area to view the stream, where it pooled a little and didn’t run very fast. She scanned the surface for the funny little critter. Ah-ha! There it was – the elusive, hard-to-see platypus! It was swimming around, eating little bugs and things off of rocks. It would dive into the water to clean off the rocks below the surface. At one point, it ducked under and didn’t come back up. Mrs. Swearingen was puzzled. Where had it gone? Then it dawned on her – it had slipped under and gone down the waterfall. She walked over the boulders by the waterfall and looked down. Sure enough, there was the platypus swimming happily about. She watched the platypus for a bit. It was very funny to watch him try to scratch himself. He would come to the surface, lift up his foot, and scratch himself, sometimes causing him to spin in circles, like a dog trying to scratch its behind. What a fun animal to watch!

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