2000/02 Australia trip - Lake St Clair |
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We filled up with diesel and whatever food we could find (not much!) in Westerway and headed north through dry hills and pine plantations. We passed a farm with what looked at first sight like kangaroos with antlers, but they were red deer from England.
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Pipeline (0.32) |  |
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The road was built to service the dams and reservoirs that supply Hobart’s water supply, so we were
passing lakes and pipelines much of the time, and as we got further north the plants and trees got steadily weirder. We set up camp on the shore of Lake St. Clair with a half dozen other camper vans, and set off for a walk along the lake.
The trees here were enormous too, stringy-bark gums, almost as tall as the swamp gums, but more massive, with impossibly fine lace-like branches. There were two kinds of grass, button grass that grew waist high with little button-like flowers, and cutting grass that grew head-high and lived up to its name. Neither type makes for easy hiking!
We were headed for the Hugel River that was supposed to have platypuses. They have duck bills, a furry body, and leathery tail, and they lay eggs. They also spend their lives under water and in burrows and only come out in the dusk and dark, so they’re hard to see. Five years ago we’d had no luck looking for a platypus at Eungella in the tropics, but this time we were in the cold high country staring through the drizzle at the ripples in the river below us.
While we were looking down, an echidna joined us. Echidnas are the only other monotremes (animals that lay eggs, have a pouch, and produce milk), but they look completely different, a cross between a hedgehog and a porcupine. This one had its snout deep in the undergrowth, vacuuming up ants and ignoring us. It posed for lots of pictures.
We needed more patience for the platypus, but eventually we saw it surface and I shot one picture, but the click of the camera was enough to send it off in a panic. They are very shy.
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Lake St Clair (14.32) |  |
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The wallabies were less shy and we met a few as we made our way back to camp, stumbling through the dark as usual 
(us, not the wallabies). Chicken curry, Bundy rum, and bed.
Saturday January 29th
We were up at the crack of dawn to go look for more platypuses, but there was no sun, just a fine drizzle, and low clouds that hid the mountains. It was cold enough to need a lot of clothes. We were the only people around, but the platypus had gone to bed, not a ripple to be seen.
We wandered into a rookery of currawongs and were treated to a deafening screaming session. Currawongs are crows with black beaks and white tail feathers. They have an amazing vocal range, all the way from a coo when they are begging to a squawk of outrage. These guys were outraged. We spent three hours tromping around the forest, had a welcome breakfast at the visitor’s centre, and set off west through rain and clouds for Franklin/Gordon National Park.
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