The Platypus & I

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a platypus in the wild. At the age of eight, on a family camping trip in rural Victoria, we picked up some old truck tire tubes from the rubbish tip and floated down the Nyaggeron (Archeron River). The five of us kids laughed and splashed as we jumped from one tire to the other, while our parents enjoyed the moment of peaceful play without arguments. 

Suddenly, my Dad’s gruff voice turned the giggles into silence, ‘Stop moving! There’s something in the water ahead’. Immediately we all froze in our rubber tubes, our childish minds racing to our worst fears; a snake, a crocodile, a shark? As we floated closer and closer to where he’d seen the movement, my Dad gave a little chuckle, ‘It’s a platypus! Keep quiet and it might come back to play’.

The curious platypus, now joined by a friend, swam beneath us, darting around in the clear, still water.

We floated soundlessly until all trace of these strange creatures was gone. Someone broke the silence, yelling, ‘That was incredible!’, a buzz of excitement exploded among us.

It wasn’t until I moved to Ngarigo Country (Snowy Monaro), that seeing a platypus in the wild became somewhat of a regular occurrence. Sitting by the Bombala River on a work lunch break, kayaking down the lower Durrock (Snowy River), bike riding by the Thredbo River. No matter how many times I see a platypus, it still stirs that same level of excitement I felt that very first time.

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