2010/11 Australia trip - Eungella |
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We had intentions of a long drive, but I saw a sign for Eungella, a park we’d visited briefly back in 1995, and it was a 
gorgeous sunny day, so we headed there “just for a few hours”. But then we saw a sign for Finch Hatton Gorge, a part of Eungella that we hadn’t visited before. We walked the trail through the rain forest up to Araluen Cascades, a beautiful spot. Then there was a long drive up the mountain road to the village of Eungella, which seemed to have grown since our last visit.
Similarly, the area around the Broken River and the platypus pool seemed to have grown, with an info centre and a little café and more parking. The platypus wasn’t evident any more 
than he was back in 1995, but it’s a really pretty walk along the river. We met this goanna, maybe a relative of the one that ran up a tree by Sandie’s nose back then.
By that time there was little point in trying to make more miles, so we had coffee at the café and watched this brush turkey working hard at his nest, hoping to attract females when he’s finished.
Then we were driving further into some beautiful backcountry to find another reservoir campground, this time successfully. There was a cool breeze coming across the water, but it was extremely buggy once the wind dropped, and we had to turn off all lights before opening doors. After all that it was a cool night. “Cold”, says Sandie.
Tuesday October 26th
This darter visited us early in the morning and sat on a washed up tree trunk twisting its neck into all kinds of impossible angles looking for passing fish.
We left soon after, stopping at the platypus pool only to hear that they’d been out in force the previous evening after we’d left and again earlier that day. No, we didn’t see any.