Elmhurst - Platypus Reserve
This small and very attractive reserve is at the end of an unmade road on the outskirts of Elmhurst on the southern side of the Wimmera River. It has a picnic table, an information board about the platypus (and the Wimmera at Elmhurst River Enhancement project), and also another information board with details about the 2010/2011 floods.
The reserve appears on the OpenStreetMaps as Platypus Reserve, doesn't seem to exist on Google Maps, and has a different name which an enterprising local has given it, you'll find that when you get here.
When I was here, I heard and saw plenty of fauna, mainly bird life - including ducks, magpies, crimson rosellas, and others I couldn't identify, but also rabbits (so if you are wandering around, watch out for hidden burrow entrances), but I did not see any platypus.
The story (as I have heard it) is that part of the Wimmera River was diverted and blocked off, then dug out to create an idyllic haven for the platypus. The hopes were that, much in the case of "Field of Dreams" - build it and they will come. Rather than the platypus, the 2010/2011 floods came (and went) and the idyllic haven became silt clogged and is no longer what it once was.
Now the reserve has a cache.
FTF honours goes to platty444 just ahead of colamjojo (as only their second find), well done.
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