Gosford Park ~ Derek's Travels

Going back towards the coast again, away from the stunning Blue Mountains, my next stop was a wilderness park whose brochure had said the magic word to ensure that I'd make a stop there. In addition to the obligatory kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, emus and even the enticing Tasmanian devils, they had a platypus. A real platypus. This was my chance to get up close and examine one for myself. I had a great time seeing the ones in the wild in the beautiful backdrop of the misty Lake Elizabeth, but this would be an opportunity to actually get a close up view and hopefully some good pictures, depending on whether or not the animal would be active and out of its burrow. Supposedly just North of Sydney, as it was advertised in one of the Sydney attractions booklets, the park was in the suburb of Gosford. Looking at the map, it didn't seem too far away, but I knew that I needed to hurry to make the most of the park. I couldn't pull myself away from the Blue Mountains as soon as I'd hoped, so I wanted to make it to the park before 3 pm to make it worth the money, as it would surely close at dark, which is pathetically around 5 pm these days. I made great time on the freeways outside of the city, confident that I'd have plenty of time at the park, but I was soon stuck on the busy side roads of the suburbs, stopping at signal after signal as my afternoon plans looked to be in peril. Fortunately, I eventually made my way to the "suburb" of Gosford, about an hour outside of the city, just at the stroke of three, so I rushed into the park, ready for some great sights.

My first exhibit was the Tasmanian devil enclosure, as they were on the verge of being fed for the afternoon. The small, black marsupials resemble small to medium sized dogs from afar, but you can tell that their mannerisms and movements aren't exactly the same, and the straggly tail definitely resembles that of a possum more than a canine. The open "cage" contained a mother and three pups or joeys or whatever you'd call them, though they are all about the same size, each with a distinct white marking or two on its back or chest or tail. Portrayed as being ferocious little beasts, they do have mean streaks, but they are fairly shy around animals as big and imposing as humans. The guide placed a few pieces of steak in the low hanging branches and hidden in the hollow logs and on top of the rocks of the pen, giving the animals a sense of hunting for their food, requiring them to at least use their rudimentary senses to locate the food. A few snarls and growls could be heard from the cage as they tugged at the same prime piece of meat, and the guide even got close enough to get one of the devils to growl at him, though it was too timid to actually attack him. Or so we hoped...and it didn't, so we were right. All that drama for nothing.

Next, I moved on to the star attraction in my mind - the platypusary, which apparently meant the place where they kept the platypus. Extremely excited, I rushed up the concrete pathway, around the alligator lake to a small, dark hut in the front corner of the park. I entered the dark doorway, and I was delighted at what I saw. The room was very dimly lit with a red light, as to simulate dawn or dusk - I know I always think dawn or dusk when I see the color red. Inside was a long, shallow enclosure about 20 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 6 feet tall, mostly filled with water, rocks and logs, with a tiny perch on the edge for the platypus to rest. I immediately saw the resident monotreme (overly technical term for that type of mammal), swimming back and forth effortlessly through the water. I couldn't believe that I was just a few feet away from this astounding animal that had completely fascinated me since I first heard about it so many years ago. The only one in the exhibit, I paced back and forth along with the swimming animal, observing every little detail. The leathery, duck-like bill that it uses to feel for food on the river's floor. The huge webbed feet that propel it so easily through the water. The beaver-like tail that it uses to steer through the rocks and logs below. The combination of all of these features all on one unique organism is amazing. It glided back and forth with incredible ease, paddling just a few strokes with its front feet, then looking around, almost looking as if it were smiling at me with its wide bill. Every few laps, it would dive down to the bottom, rummaging through the rocks to find little bits of food. Just as the exhibit was scheduled to close, another worker came by and threw in some new food - crustaceans, crayfish and worms, and he allowed me to stay as long as I liked, just as long as I closed the door behind me. Entranced, I watched the platypus carry food from the bottom to the surface, banging it along the wall and shaking it until it was small enough for edible bites while it floated along the top of the water. At times, it looked like a dog carrying a large stick in its mouth, with some of the crayfish obviously too big for its small mouth. The whole animal is actually smaller than I'd imagined as a child, just about a foot and a half or two feet long, but it was still unbelievable. Seeing it in the wild was so special, but being able to actually observe the intricate features and its behaviour was beyond even my own expectations of this trip.

After nearly an hour and a half of following the every movement of the platypus, the park was on the verge of closing, so I quickly saw what else it had to offer, in a ten minute rush around the area. I saw more awkward emus, a bird with which I never feel comfortable, so I delicately snuck around them, as they were blocking my entry into the park's exhibits. Then I saw a few of the kangaroos and some new varieties of colorful wallabies that I hadn't seen yet. I checked out the obese wombats, sleepy koalas and some exotic birds before the last attraction of the park - the alligators and crocodiles. They have a huge, dark, swampy lake with alligators all throughout the banks and swimming silently through the dark water, making me thankful for the fencing in between myself and the prehistoric looking creatures. Then, I saw the star attraction of the park - Eric. Leading into the park, an friendly looking animated crocodile pointed the way from the highway, warning about speed bumps and pedestrians ahead, but the real Eric wasn't quite as cute. I missed the feeding earlier in the day, but I could still appreciate the power of the creature as it lay silent in the clear water of his enclosure. Almost fifteen feet long and around 70 years old, this was an impressive specimen of the saltwater crocodiles that make Australia famous. These crocodiles are extremely aggressive and can grow to massive proportions, actually making humans a prey item from time to time. In fact, Eric was identified as a problem crocodile in his original home, so he was taken out of the wild and transported to a few zoos and wildlife parks where he continued to fight with and often kill his roommates. He did lose part of one leg in one of the battles before he was moved to 'solitary confinement.' He's been a star of the park ever since, featuring daily feedings, and fortunately he has calmed down just a bit in his old age. The sheer size and power of this beast was evident even as it slept. I wished I had time to see him in action, but I had to keep moving, and the park workers were anxiously waiting for me to leave, so that they could close the park and go home, so I hit the road.

Not far North, I came to a sign for a rest area, and I knew that it would have to be my resting spot for the night. Unfortunately, the rest area was at the crux of the highway and another major road that split off at that point, making it a popular stop. As I finished my cold spaghetti leftovers from the night before, I observed the odd mix of cars and trucks in the parking lot. One sort of businessman pulled up and proceeded to disrobe in the parking lot, changing out of his work clothes and into some shorts and a t-shirt for no apparent reason before looking suspicious and getting back into his car and driving off. Another car was full of two cautious teenagers, smoking pot and looking around for any signs of police. A few random truckers pulled in and out of the lot, stopping for various amounts of time as I analyzed the situation, hoping that I'd be ok for the night. Despite a bad feeling about the transient stop, I decided to close up my curtains and hope for the best. Just as I was ready to get to sleep, another campervan pulled right in between my car and the next one, completely negating the nice buffer zone that I had left to give both of us a nice safe feeling about our neighbor. To add to the situation, the driver then proceeded to open all of his doors and allow all of us in the area to enjoy his loud jazz/psychedelic mix that played as he took his time making dinner and settling in for the night. More than a few headlights shone in on me from the comings and goings of the rest stop, but I stayed put and awoke early in the morning, ready to get on the road again.

(The real Tasmanian Devil...he's angry. This is, of course, just after he finished spinning around like a tornado and muttering a few indecipherable phrases.)