The purpose to my questions was to try to illustrate a point. I would warrant that the habitat in which you found the nobbi dragons was similar to what I described. V. gouldii is not as habitat specific, so I am not surprised that I was not correct on that one. Still, worth a punt…
If you have target species that you hope to see when travelling, the thing to do is research their preferred habitat and behaviour prior to looking for them. For example, painted dragons prefer hummock grassland habitat, so sandy to stony swales on and between low sand hills with spinifex grass are the ideal place to look for them. They are active throughout the day in warm weather and morning and afternoon in hot weather. Also, they are quick to scamper back to their burrows when disturbed. These burrows are often at the base of a hummock grass, tend to be fairly shallow and not too long.
Pygopod habitat varies with the species. Burton’s can be found in a huge range of habitats, other than wet areas. Others occupy sclerophyll forest to heaths where there is plenty of leaf litter to forage in and hide in. Yet others are prefer grassland habitat and can be found beneath the matted layers of dead grass that develop there.
Locating geckoes in semi-arid to arid areas is best done at night with a head torch. Personally I have a cheap Arlec brand from Bunnings that cost about $10 and runs on 3 x AAA batteries. The trick is to use good quality batteries, such as Energiser Lithium or Duracell. An hour to two after sunset is your best time to go wandering through the sand hills looking for them, or checking out rock outcrops or tree trunks, depending where you are.
Another more general method of locating reptiles is to cruise roads for an hour or two after sunset. Success at this depends on lots of factors, including a measure of luck. However you can increase your chances by selecting roads that traverse good reptile habitat.