On the toss of a coin, well metaphorically so, we decided to head inland to see if the weather would improve.
Up the Bega Valley to the eponymous town and on along the Snowy Mountains Highway.
Suddenly we are driving up a 10 kilometre (6 mile) hill which gains 800 metres (2500 feet) of elevation. At the top is Pipers Lookout, named after a bus driver on the Bega-Cooma route who was so dedicated to his passengers that he died of a heart attack while shovelling snow off the road very near the lookout.
There is now a walkway around the escarpment with a couple of viewing platforms which adds considerably to the experience visitors have.
We ended up in Bombala on the road from Cooma to Dalgety. This is platypus country so we dined early, rugged up against the chill of the night air and went down to the riverbank to await the appearance of the platypus.
An hour and a half later the river had become so still and flat that the surface was like a mirror and I thought that if we couldn't see the animals in these conditions, they were probably not any there.
Just as we were about to leave, a ripple caught my eye and there was a platypus, paddling purposefully downstream in the centre of the river. He was swimming at such speed that we were only just able to keep abreast of it. It finally slowed and turned towards the bank right where I was standing. It paused as if the inspect me and, when I move it backed off with a great splash and dived under the surface. Returning to the surface, it approached very cautiously and disappeared in the reeds at the edge of the river.
And so to bed