Day 23 – Buchan Caves and Platypus Reserve
Broke camp the next day and headed back into Buchan. This town’s name rhymes with truckin’, so imagine the hilarity that ensured. After a fortifying coffee at the local cafe, we headed to our real destination: the Buchan Caves Reserve. This is a gorgeous picnic area and campsite, and it also has some caves.
We took a tour down Fairy Cave.
This cave was was pretty impressive. We followed about 500 metres of it, though apparently it extends several kilometres. Obviously a smartphone camera isn’t going to do it justice, but the formations were beautiful.
Having ticked another thing off the holiday list (“go caving”), we decided to try for another (“see a Platypus”). We settled in to a long drive to a town called Bombala, where the critters are rumoured to be found. This also took us over the border into NSW, and past the 5000 km mark.
We pulled up at the Bombala Platypus Reserve, a small site next to the Bombala River that has a couple of viewing hides installed.
The kids (and Fiona) were very pleased to see a single elusive Platypus right on dusk, as well as a couple of bats. The plan is to be up at dawn tomorrow to try spotting more. We’ll see.