Day 26 Cradle Mountain to Strahan

I decided to sneak out again before 6am to get some good photos of the platypus, but he apparently decided to sleep in with the rest of the crew(obviously the platypus is smarter than I).  After an hour or so, I gave up.

Found a Pademelon, though

                                      

The morning weather was cold and rainy, not at all conducive to a hike before leaving Cradle Mountain. So, after doing some laundry and internet stuff, we left for the Tasmanian west coast and the town of Strahan.  Before leaving the area, we stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary and Rhonda and Milt adopted a young devil, Mollie.  They were hoping for  a Grace or a Sophie, but there were none. Driving on these curvy mountain roads was becoming old hat for me at this point, though the 2 hour drive was still a bit stressful. We passed through mining country that had seen several boom and bust cycles with mining of tin, copper, and other ores.

Strahan also had seen better days when it was the 2^nd largest seaport in Tasmania from which ore and timber were shipped.  Now it is primarily a tourist town for boat trips into the Gordon River National Park and Macquarie Harbor (or Harbour as they spell it here).  

We stayed at Franklin Manor, a beautiful, old B&B, a ten minute walk to the harbor.  Our hosts, John and Jane (no, these are not aliases), gave us some tips on restaurants and mentioned that a platypus had been sighted at a nearby park.  We had planned a hike to a waterfall here anyway, so went off to check it out.  The walk was an easy 40min in and out. And the waterfall was pretty impressive.  



                                                
We met a woman walking a dog here, and figured she would have good local knowledge of any platypus in the park.  She showed us where a platyfamily  lived and recommended dusk. So we decided to stop here on the way back from dinner and get one more viewing of beast.

We made it back to the spot we were told would be best by around 8:30, and stayed until 9:30 when we decided to quit due to darkness and the beginnings of a rainstorm.  As we emerged from the trail at the park entrance, I noted a man standing by the portion of the river that ran into the harbor staring intently at the water. He told me he had seen a platypus there after looking for 2-3 minutes about ½ hour before.  We probably walked right by it!  We got platypused (a new descriptive word to replace “skunked”) again.

                                     

Best we could do for a platypus today


Tomorrow, cruising the Gordon River and then the long (4-5hr) drive to Hobart