Before I went to Australia people warned me about the animals: crocodiles, dingoes, poisonous spiders, cassowaries, snakes, sharks, boxing kangaroos, Tasmanian Devils, fire-ants and dive-bombing magpies.
I saw very few of these, and none sank their teeth (or beaks or talons) into me.
But I’m very grateful to the Wellspring Group in Brisbane who, besides some serious events, took me up the river to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Where I saw laid-back kangaroos
and very cuddly koalas
and even this little fellow, worn out with devilment
But I have no photograph of the most mysterious creature of all, which was alive and well in a tank in a darkened building – so here is a word-picture
The solitary platypus
The platypus in her private world
is dancing in the dusk
between two elements.
Like an otter, she dives
with a deft twist of the body,
but in this upside-down
state of unlikeness,
is blessed with a duck-bill
and nipples to suckle
her egg-hatched young –
if she can find a mate.
Bubbles of air caught in her fur
become a string of pearls,
twirling as she dances –
a flapper with duck feet –
steered by her strong tail
instead of a partner.
O solitary platypus: unique piece of creation.
A far country diary 