Hi Everyone.
For the past 10 days I and 3 others have been on a trip throughout the Pilbara.
First up was the big drive from Perth to Robe River, Pannawonica and was expected to arrive at 8:30pm.
As most would know not all plans go the way you want them to and this one didn’t, just before the Murchison River there had been a chemical spill on the main high way heading north.
The chemical spill ended up knocking us back 3 hours since the police show us an inland route that will get us just north of the spill.
Central Netted Dragon Ctenophorus nuchalis we found along the dirt track we took.
Next up just after we left overlander roadhouse, the left back wheel popped and came off the rim.
Being in a rental car you would think the company would check that there was a Jack and a wrench in the car, but we were the ‘lucky’ ones not to have them in the car.
We ended up getting help from a guy who pulled over that was on his way back to Perth with his family after a fishing trip in Exmouth,
funny enough he ended up being a member on the WA reptile forum (Cheers Hatch!). After finally getting the rim off and getting the spare tyre on, we set off again hoping nothing else would go wrong.
On the way into Carnarvon we found a Thorny Devil sitting in the middle of the road.
We ended up arriving at Robe River at 1:30am (4 extra hours later).
Next day we headed into Pannawonica to get a spare wheel, but needed to drive into Karratha since the Pannawonica shop didn’t have the wheel we needed.
After getting into Karratha and getting the spare wheel and KFC , we headed to Millstream.
Water hole on the side of the road.
Landscape at Millstream NP.
Main water hole at Millstream.
After Millstream, we headed back down to Pannawonica on a inland route, hoping to come across a good amount of reptiles since it was around 7pm when we left Millstream.
Ended up only seeing a couple of Stimson’s.
Stimson’s Pythons Antaresia stimsoni
The next day we heading into Port Hedland and caught up with Andrew and Dave.
We ended up setting up camp at the De Grey River and caught up with Dave to go spotting.
Unfortunately we went up when the moon was at its strongest and only ended up seeing a few Flat Shell Turtles crossing the roads where a thunderstorm hit an hour before we got there.
The next night we just did a bit of local herping around the De Grey.
Desert Death Adder Acanthophis Pyrrhus
Fat Tailed Gecko Diplodactylus conspicillatus
Giant Frog Cyclorana australis
Stimson’s Python Antaresia stimsoni
Rosen’s Snake Suta fasciata
Desert Spadefoot Notaden nichollsi
Baby Pygmy spiny tailed Skink Egerina epsisolus
The next area we headed to was Dooleni Gorge just before Marble Bar, the weather was **** the next day so headed back into town for supplies, we were grateful that Dave allowed us to use his shower since some of us started to smell. We ended up finding out that the tropical low off the coast had turned into a Cat2 Cyclone, since we were camping in tents we thought it was best to bail from the storm and head back to Pannawonica since Karijini was closed because of flooding.
After setting up camp at Robe River once again, the sky looked threatening for most of the day
Mark and Mike at Robe River.
The night was looking good with high humidity and high temps
Sunset a Robe River.
The rain ended up holding off and the temps kept high and was the first night of the trip that we had good success.
Rosen’s Snake Suta fasciata
Burton’s snake lizard Lialis burtonis
King Brown Pseudechis australis
Moon Snake Furina ornate
Monk Snake Parasuta monachus
Pygmy Python Antaresia perthensis
Came across this one on the road eating a road kill Ring Tail Dragon.
Pilbara Death Adder Acanthophis wellsi
Ended up finding 7 of these little beauties on that night.
Cheers,
Niall
For the past 10 days I and 3 others have been on a trip throughout the Pilbara.
First up was the big drive from Perth to Robe River, Pannawonica and was expected to arrive at 8:30pm.
As most would know not all plans go the way you want them to and this one didn’t, just before the Murchison River there had been a chemical spill on the main high way heading north.
The chemical spill ended up knocking us back 3 hours since the police show us an inland route that will get us just north of the spill.
Central Netted Dragon Ctenophorus nuchalis we found along the dirt track we took.
Next up just after we left overlander roadhouse, the left back wheel popped and came off the rim.
Being in a rental car you would think the company would check that there was a Jack and a wrench in the car, but we were the ‘lucky’ ones not to have them in the car.
We ended up getting help from a guy who pulled over that was on his way back to Perth with his family after a fishing trip in Exmouth,
funny enough he ended up being a member on the WA reptile forum (Cheers Hatch!). After finally getting the rim off and getting the spare tyre on, we set off again hoping nothing else would go wrong.
On the way into Carnarvon we found a Thorny Devil sitting in the middle of the road.
We ended up arriving at Robe River at 1:30am (4 extra hours later).
Next day we headed into Pannawonica to get a spare wheel, but needed to drive into Karratha since the Pannawonica shop didn’t have the wheel we needed.
After getting into Karratha and getting the spare wheel and KFC , we headed to Millstream.
Water hole on the side of the road.
Landscape at Millstream NP.
Main water hole at Millstream.
After Millstream, we headed back down to Pannawonica on a inland route, hoping to come across a good amount of reptiles since it was around 7pm when we left Millstream.
Ended up only seeing a couple of Stimson’s.
Stimson’s Pythons Antaresia stimsoni
The next day we heading into Port Hedland and caught up with Andrew and Dave.
We ended up setting up camp at the De Grey River and caught up with Dave to go spotting.
Unfortunately we went up when the moon was at its strongest and only ended up seeing a few Flat Shell Turtles crossing the roads where a thunderstorm hit an hour before we got there.
The next night we just did a bit of local herping around the De Grey.
Desert Death Adder Acanthophis Pyrrhus
Fat Tailed Gecko Diplodactylus conspicillatus
Giant Frog Cyclorana australis
Stimson’s Python Antaresia stimsoni
Rosen’s Snake Suta fasciata
Desert Spadefoot Notaden nichollsi
Baby Pygmy spiny tailed Skink Egerina epsisolus
The next area we headed to was Dooleni Gorge just before Marble Bar, the weather was **** the next day so headed back into town for supplies, we were grateful that Dave allowed us to use his shower since some of us started to smell. We ended up finding out that the tropical low off the coast had turned into a Cat2 Cyclone, since we were camping in tents we thought it was best to bail from the storm and head back to Pannawonica since Karijini was closed because of flooding.
After setting up camp at Robe River once again, the sky looked threatening for most of the day
Mark and Mike at Robe River.
The night was looking good with high humidity and high temps
Sunset a Robe River.
The rain ended up holding off and the temps kept high and was the first night of the trip that we had good success.
Rosen’s Snake Suta fasciata
Burton’s snake lizard Lialis burtonis
King Brown Pseudechis australis
Moon Snake Furina ornate
Monk Snake Parasuta monachus
Pygmy Python Antaresia perthensis
Came across this one on the road eating a road kill Ring Tail Dragon.
Pilbara Death Adder Acanthophis wellsi
Ended up finding 7 of these little beauties on that night.
Cheers,
Niall
Last edited:
