Wednesday 13th November 2019. 1340 – 1445

No rain. Clear sky with some haze. Light variable breeze. Track dry.

Thomas and I checked out Allumbah Pocket as usual, noted the absence of the Brushtail Possum and realised that we were in turn being inspected by a beautiful Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo. Spent several minutes taking images from varying directions. While doing this I heard a sound suggestive of an animal entering the water and fired off 3 reflex shots which turned out to show an Eastern Water Dragon swimming across the creek. The pick of the pics is included as it is rarely possible to photo Dragons while swimming. Two more Eastern Water Dragons and a Saw-shelled Turtle were in the vicinity of the Memorial Bench where we met a young couple from Germany and directed them to the Tree Roo. They in turn reported seeing a Water Rat (Rakali) and we were able to confirm this with three fleeting sightings just upstream from Platypus Bend. It was only about 150 mm long excluding tail, and must therefor be a juvenile which has recently taken up residence in this area. Several more Turtles were seen at the Log Jam. We had almost given up hope of seeing a Platypus when one appeared under the Highway Bridge and spent 10 minutes feeding in our company. The light conditions under the bridge are challenging but I managed to obtain a few passable images to prove the sighting.