In
February 2012 Mick Todd and I travelled to the Nymboida River in the Nymboi Binderay National Park in search of a platypus. Our plan was to do two dives and hopefully find and photograph an elusive platypus in the process.
Mick said that 22 years earlier he had been white water rafting on the Nymboida River, high up in the mountains. He had got in the river at the Platypus Flat camping area and rafted down to the Cod Hole picnic area. His recollection was that this had seemed just the sort of place where it might be possible to find a platypus. I thought we had as much chance of finding a platypus as a dodo.
Nevertheless we began Mission Platypus. I drove along the park’s Moses Rock road in my trusty UK Landcruiser failing to spot a coastal carpet python lying across the road in the shadows. Until it was too late. I estimated its length to be about 12 metres. Mick estimated 1.5 metres. Upon reflection Mick may have been correct. Injured by my heavy vehicle the snake eventually wriggled off the road.
Our first dive was not possible as the road to this site was closed from recent floods. We moved on to the second dive site at Platypus Flat. The river level was relatively high from the flooding, the water quite grey and fast flowing, the sun rather low and Mick’s new dive mask kept fogging up. If I had not already put our chances of success at 0.00%, I would have at this point. Mick could hardly see and with the current quite strong, we abandoned the dive after just 12 minutes.
As we drove away from the dive site, Mick suddenly became very excited, insisted I stop, jumped out of the car and dashed back down the dirt track. I pondered. Mick had been out in the sun a fair bit but I doubted sunstroke had caused this sudden mental breakdown. I was trying to remember if Mick had ever mentioned a family disposition to this condition when he began gesturing wildly in my direction. I felt I had no choice but to humour him and so jogged back to him. He explained that as we had rounded a corner, he had a brief glimpse of the river and thought that had seen the flash of a pelt. I checked Mick to make sure that he was not frothing at the mouth. To my relief he did not appear to be. Still, to be on the safe side, I thought I should continue to humour him and so looked down the steep overgrown bank to the river below. There by an amazing coincidence I spotted a platypus on the surface. It went through a succession of dives each time returning to the surface. I was stunned – what must be the odds against me spotting a platypus more or less just where Mick had hallucinated that he had seen one? I gave myself a mental pat on the back and then happily took some long distance shots of the platypus.