Platypus in the wild!

Laetitia's staff Christmas party (for her 3-days-a-week job as a civil engineer) was at Broken River Resort up at Eungella. It was a pleasant cool break from the sticky heat of Mackay. We drove up late Saturday afternoon, and stayed the night there. Early in the morning (like, quarter to five!) Laetitia says, “Wanna go see a platypus?” (Or words to that effect, anyway; I was half asleep at the time, so I don't recall exactly!)

So up we got, and went for a short walk to the river. And indeed, we saw several of them. First time I've seen one in the wild!


We also saw and heard some cormorants. They were amazingly noisy! I've never heard them make a sound before (except for the splashes and flaps as they dart away from me when I approach). But this morning they were gobbling and nattering at each other, and chasing each other in a mad flying course along the river and amongst trees along the bank. Looked like some kind of territorial thing. Maybe it's mating season?