Jan 29: Playpus Hunter Success!

Strahan is community built around the pine industry. Or at least it was. The Huon pine tree is very special. It is made up of special oils that resist rotting, which made it exceptionally valuable to the ship building industry of the 1800s. A penal colony was set up on Sara Island to supply labor. As part of my day in Strahan, I did a boat tour up the Gordon River to see some of the remaining Huon pine forests, and to see Sara Island. To be sent to the penal colony, you needed to do something terrible... like get drunk in public, or show up to work late on a regular basis. So 200 years ago, there is a good chance, I (and most everyone I consort with... wihch probably includes you) would have ended up in one of these prison camps. There are a group of four national parks in Tasmania which collectively make up a world heritage site, preserved for the incredible natural parks, and the cultural remnants associated with the penal colony.

On the boat ride, I met a couple of Tasmanians, Isabelle and Olivier. Brother and sister, they are originally from Hobart and were on a sight seeing trip with their Dad. In a strange cosmic twist, Isabelle had a bike she wanted to get to Melbourne a week later... and I would be driving my van back to Melbourne a week later. Must have been fate. I planned to meet up with them later to pick up the bike.

I decided to spend my evening driving over to Lake St. Claire.

On my more or less impossible quest to see a platypus in the wild, I decided to do a night hike over to a place called Platypus Bay. Seemed like a good place to look :) And in the light of the full moon, off in the distance, I could see a tiny little log in the water, that disappeared under the water. Then it popped up every minute or so... which I'm told is the most anyone ever really sees of the platypus. Success! One of my two primary objectives crossed off the list.

And then, as a bonus, on my way back to the campsite, I came across a momma possum carrying around her nearly full grown youngster. Freeloader!