Australia, Mackay: Platypus Sightings in Eungella National Park

After a week apart, with Dan travelling up the eastern coast of Australia and Kyle spending time in Arkansas with his family during Thanksgiving, it was time to reunite in the Land of Oz, particularly in the city of Mackay. Dan arrived first, at 7:20am, after an overnight bus journey from Hervey Bay. He was very glad to get off the bus because he hadn't slept that night due to an extremely cold air conditioning unit on board, and the extremely cramped, small seats. Once he got off the bus, he called Larrikin Lodge, where he had booked a place to stay for a few nights; a few minutes later, a van with an older man driving appeared and took him back to the hostel.

The driver taking Dan to Larrikin Lodge was from England, but had lived in Australia for many years. They chatted during the short drive back to the hostel, where Dan was greeted by the driver's wife. With Dan arriving so early in the morning, the room he booked wasn't ready yet, but the woman provided him with a blanket, a cup of tea and an empty spot on one of the futons in the lounge area so he could rest; she knew that he must be exhausted from the long overnight bus journey. He enjoyed being fussed over and ended up spending the morning watching football (that's referring to soccer, for the Americans reading this) on TV whilst wrapped in the blanket sipping his cup of tea.

We noticed another section of circular bubbles, which was the signal that a platypus was going to surface

Once the room was ready, Dan moved his bags there and kipped (that's the same as napped for the Americans reading this) for an hour or so. After that, he woke feeling a little more refreshed, and he showered and put on some clean clothes. By then, it was lunch time and he decided to go out and grab some food at a nearby shopping centre. The day was glorious and hot; to make the most of it, Dan headed over to the local outdoor pool after lunch to lie out under the sun and relax in the water. The woman running the hostel had told him that the pool was near the shopping centre and he didn't have to walk far to get there.

Entrance to the swimming pool only cost $4 AUD (£1.75, or $3.50 USD). After paying, Dan walked through the changing rooms to the pool area, where he discovered that the outdoor pool was a proper full-size pool, very clean, with people using it to exercise rather than just lie out in the sun or play around. Despite that, he changed into his swimming trunks and hopped into the pool. After swimming a couple of laps, he had to ask one of the pool attendants if he had a pair of goggles that he could borrow; the water had been stinging his eyes. Luckily, there was a promotional pair that he was able to use. Swimming there was the first major form of exercise that Dan had gotten in a while, and it showed because he could only manage about 15 minutes of swimming before tiring out from completing long laps in the large pool.

Dan went back to the hostel to lay out and read his book until Kyle arrived later. Kyle's flight from Brisbane, which marked the end of a 36-hour bout of travelling from the United States to Australia, arrived on time in Mackay and the man running the hostel picked him up once he had arrived and collected his bags. Even though Kyle had been travelling for so long, he had gotten around 8 hours of sleep on his flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane and felt like he had had a good night's rest. His journey was probably more comfortable than Dan's was because Kyle was in a three-seat side row of the airplane and there were no other people in his row; he could stretch out and lie down on the three seats as a result.

That night, we both decided to take it easy as Dan was tired from not getting a lot of sleep, from his swim (all 15 minutes of it), and from laying out in the sun; Kyle wasn't in too bad of shape but was worried he might start feeling the effects of jet lag a little later that evening. We set out towards the town centre, which was already decorated with Christmas decorations and had many cool bars and restaurants lining two main streets that intersected, creating a small central area of focus for visitors and residents. There was a large cinema in the town centre and we decided to see a film.

Before seeing a film, though, we went for dinner at a well-known restaurant called Cactus Jack's. The place was recommended to us by our hostel and we thought we'd try it out. We were seated straight away, despite the place being very busy on a Tuesday night, which was "all-you-can-eat chilli night". Once seated, it took at least ten minutes for one of the wait staff to take our order. The staff were all pretty clueless and didn't really seem to be bothered that we wanted to eat dinner. At one point, frustrated, we were on the verge of walking out of the place, and the main reason we decided to stay was our strong desire to eat tortilla chips and salsa at the Tex-Mex restaurant.

In the end, we managed to catch the attention of one of the girls working there and finally had our order taken. The food didn't take too long to be served and we both munched on the chips and salsa before sharing a large chicken wrap. Getting the bill took awhile, and since we were heading to the cinema, we couldn't afford to waste any more time, so we waved down a waitress, got the bill, and then walked over to the till (that's the same as a cash register for the Americans reading this) to pay for our food.

The cinema wasn't too far away from the restaurant and we were there in a flash. The film we chose to watch was one that Dan had seen a few days earlier while in Noosa, "Death at a Funeral". Even though he had already seen the film, he was very keen to see it again with Kyle because it was such a hilarious British film; Kyle conceded and we both enjoyed watching it together. When it finished, we headed back to the hostel eager for our tour the next day of Eungella National Park, where we would hopefully spot some rare and threatened platypuses in the wild.

The next day started early because the small tour bus we boarded had to drive many miles to reach the national park from Mackay. The day trip with Jungle Johno Tours cost around $75 AUD each (£33, or $66 USD each) and was organised through our hostel. The money for the tour was due when they picked us up in the morning, but we had run out of cash the night before and had to make a trip to the ATM at a nearby shopping centre. We withdrew enough cash to cover the cost of the tour for the day and to give us enough money to last a few more days. On the way back to the hostel, we stopped for a quick breakfast so we wouldn't be starving during the morning's drive to the national park.

After boarding the tour bus, our driver and guide, Alan, set off to pick up additional tourists. Alan was previously a sugar cane farmer and had recently taken up the job of giving tours of the local area. He was a fountain of knowledge with many interesting facts about the nearby sugar cane farms, the national park, and, of course, the platypuses. Our first stop on the tour was actually at a country pub for lunch, the Pinnacle Pub, a place known for its delicious homemade meat pies.

The pub was halfway between the town of Mackay and Eungella National Park so it was the perfect place to stop off, eat and get to know the other people in our group. Kyle chose a mash potato and beef pie whilst Dan ate a beef, bacon and cheese pie; both were enormous and very tasty, but we each wished that we would have chosen the option of having gravy poured over the top of the pies, which we thought added a bonus, extra treat on some other pies at our table. Back in the bus after lunch, Alan continued driving to Eungella National Park though the spectacular Pioneer Valley.

Before arriving at the national park, we stopped to hike through a section of the rainforest that led to a pleasant swimming hole and waterfall. Along the path we took, Alan explained the origin and characteristics of some of the plants and wildlife that we came across. The trek was easy with a rewarding end; at the end of the path, everyone had the option of changing into their swimming attire and taking a dip in a large natural pool. The setting was beautiful amongst the dense trees, and a few other visitors were already enjoying the water and rocky area next to the pool.

Kyle decided that he didn't want to swim and he chose to lie down on the rocks instead. Once Dan changed into his swimming trunks, he climbed down the steep rocks and into the water to join some of the other people in our group who were also swimming. The water was very cold and felt great once his body adjusted to it. After spending 15 minutes in the pool, swimming around with a couple of German girls on our tour, he got out and dried off; at that point, it was time to walk back to the bus and head to the national park to look for platypuses.

The best place to see the elusive, shy creatures was Broken River. Once we entered the national park, we were taken there and we spotted a couple of the animals a few minutes after arriving. To get to Broken River, which was high up in the mountains, Alan drove us up a steep mountain road. Before arriving at the river, we stopped off at a mountain ridge and looked with awe at the view over Pioneer Valley. Broken River was a few minutes down the road after we reached the top of the mountain and Alan continued driving us there.

Crocodiles don't live in high elevations, so the platypuses didn't have to worry about them. When Alan pulled into the car park at the Broken River viewing area, we walked a couple of minutes to the main viewing platform there. There were many interesting Australian birds in the trees around the area; we spotted a few that we had only seen previously in zoos. Alan planned the timing of our trip to the river just right, which was necessary since platypuses only leave their burrows to feed at certain times of the day, such as late afternoon or early evening.

With its rubbery bill, thick fur and waddling walk, the platypus looks a little odd. The unique Australian animal has evolved to operate very efficiently in its environment. The animals are one of only three teatless egg-laying mammals and have an unusual combination of features found in no other animal. Smaller than most people think (we were very surprised), the male platypus is usually around 50cm long and weighs about 1.5kg; females are usually 40cm long and only weigh around 1kg. Each of the platypuses' unusual features has a practical use.

Their soft, rubbery, super-sensitive bills are excellent for locating food; they have remarkable "electroreceptors" on them, which are used to find their prey. They have grinding plates at the front of their bill which are used to mash food that they find; they also store food in cheek pouches lining the sides of their faces. When swimming, platypuses' nostrils, eyes and ear slits all close, and their webbed, hairless feet are used to paddle (the front ones) and steer and brake (the back ones) when in the water. However, on land, the webbing folds back when the animals are walking or digging.

The female platypuses have abdominal mammary ducts that secrete milk for young, since the females have no teats. To protect themselves, their female partners and babies, the male platypuses have sharp venomous spurs on their back feet; the spurs are likely also used to assert dominance during the breeding season. The broad tail of a platypus is used for burrowing, storing fat and stabilising themselves when swimming. Platypuses spend about 12 hours a day diving and searching for food and they can stay under water for as much as 10 minutes before surfacing. They close their eyes when under water and use their electroreceptors to find food, which is then stored in their cheek pouches and mashed with the grinding plates in their jaws when they return to the surface of the water.

At the viewing deck, we only had to wait a few minutes for a platypus to surface. When the platypus surfaced to catch its breath before diving back down into the water and finding more food, we were able to get a good glimpse of the small creature. It was amazing how little the animal was, since we had pictured a much larger one in our mind; there's proof that TV warps one's mind, with us thinking that a platypus was the size of an otter or a small dog. A little while after watching the first platypus, we noticed another section of circular bubbles, which was the signal that a platypus was going to surface; it was then that we realised we were watching two platypuses then.

It is normally difficult to see the shy creatures in the wild, but Eungella National Park sightings nearly always occur. Alan was happy with what we saw that day, and so were we and everyone else in our group. After spending almost an hour in the area, we left satisfied and Alan took us to a small coffee shop before the long drive back to Mackay. A couple of people on our tour were staying at our hostel, George from England and Carla from Capri. We enjoyed talking with them that day and invited them to have a meal and go to the cinema, but they were tired and politely declined.

The couple running the hostel asked what we thought about the tour and we sang its praises before heading to the town centre where we shared a main course, some kind of gourmet toasted sandwich on Turkish bread, at a cafe called Marco Polo. We had a couple of iced coffees and spent some time writing there, too. After eating, we went to the cinema and saw "Saw IV", another enjoyable twisted film in the profitable franchise. It was time to go back to the hostel after the film and we packed up our bags once back, since we had an early bus journey to Mission Beach booked for the next day.