Searching for Platypus
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
135
190
Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
We spent a lot of time yesterday looking for platypus - some other people saw one in the river right next to our cabin, but so far, no luck for us! We went for another hike - this time 7km around Dove Lake and right under Cradle Mountain. It is called Cradle Mountain because the rocks between the two peaks look like a sleeping baby in a cradle. It really does! The hike was cool - Dove Lake was made by glaciers millions of years ago and you can still see where glaciers went over the rock. We went with a guide, Andrew, who knew a lot about the park and plants. This is a temperate rainforest, which means it rains a lot, like every day we have been here! It also means there are a lot of cool plants that you can not find anywhere else.
Andrew also told us that there were originally only two placental mammals in all of Australia - the platypus and the echidna - and the rest are marsupials. Basically, when Australia split off during the Ice Age, the animals here evolved differently from the ones in other parts of the world.
When we got back from our hike, we walked around the river looking for platypus - still no luck though they like to stay in calm water near the lodge. There are also some Tasmanian Devils that have a den right under the lodge but I have not seen them either. But we did see a big, fat wombat coming out of his den - right next to us! Luckily he was not scared and just stared back at us.
This morning before we left, Mom and I got up early (she actually got up earlier and went for a run then came back and got me) to look for the platypus. Two ladies saw one right before she got there - she just missed it! - so she ran back to get me. We were very quiet and waited a while, but no platypus, but we did see a albino wallaby, which was cool. We saw signs for platypus crossings on our way back to Devonport, and lots of poor dead wallabys and other animals on the road (they get hit a lot at night), but no platypus.
Now we are in Cape Jervis, which is an hour or so from Adelaide and right across from Kangaroo Island. We will take a ferry there tomorrow morning. It is very deserted here - not a lot of people and we are all missing friends a little. But I think Kangaroo Island will be fun and there is still another chance to see platypus in the wild! You never know! As Indrajit told us, "You have to have something to come back for!"
