# Days 4 & 5: Girraween National park



## smacdonald (Jan 17, 2009)

Copied directly from my blog.

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Note: if you've seen the 2009 ReptilesDownUnder.com calendar, you might recognise some pictures here.

We left The Warrumbungles in the morning and drove up to Girraween National Park, just across the border in Queensland. Despite it being quite close to my home town of Brisbane, and despite it being well known for its high reptile diversity, I'd never visited Girraween. We drove into the park and stopped at the first creek crossing. We saw a couple of eastern water dragons (_Physignathus lesueurii lesueurii_) and a plethora of eastern water skinks (_Eulamprus quoyii_).





Eastern water skink (_Eulamprus quoyii_).






Eastern water skink (_Eulamprus quoyii_).






Eastern water skink (_Eulamprus quoyii_).






Eastern water skink (_Eulamprus quoyii_).​
We parked the car and went for a walk. We disturbed a foraging sand goanna (_Varanus gouldii_), who posed long enough for us to get some photos before retreating into a rock crack.





Sand goanna (_Varanus gouldii_).​
We were walking along a creek line (carefully watching where we stepped so as to avoid squishing the millions of eastern water skinks lining the waterway). I jumped onto an isolated rock that was surrounded by reeds and noticed a large red-bellied black snake (_Pseudechis porphyriacus_) curled up in the centre.





Red-bellied black snake (_Pseudechis porphyriacus_).






Red-bellied black snake (_Pseudechis porphyriacus_).​
I took a couple of dodgy pics and was trying to figure out how to get some better shots when the snake realised he'd been seen and calmly slithered off into the surrounding reeds. We continued on. We didn't have to walk far before we found a nice granite outcrop with some exfoliated slabs - perfect habitat for the species I really wanted to see (after missing out on it at The Warrumbungles), Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_). Luckily some Cunningham's sknks thought it was perfect habitat, too. We found an adult and two juveniles basking in front of a crevice. I sat down in front of them for 20 or so minutes and let them get used to me so I could take some pics.





Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).






Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).






Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).






Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).






Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).






Cunningham's skink (_Egernia cunninghami_).​
Also in this rocky area were some _Eulamprus martini_ and _Carlia foliorum_.





_Carlia foliorum_






_Eulamprus martini_​
On dusk we walked around hoping to find some geckos. We heard a rustling off to the side of the path and found a three-toed skink (_Saiphos equalis_) slithering through some moss. We found a little pond with a whole bunch of frogs calling, so we poked around there for a bit. We heard a few emerald-spotted tree frogs (_Litoria peronii_) calling, but didn't manage to see any.





Three-toed skink (_Saiphos equalis_).






Ornate burrowing frog (_Opisthodon ornatus_).






Eastern sedgefrog (_Litoria fallax_).






Uperuleia laevigata.






Litoria dentata.​
The geckos were out in force as well, and we were stoked to find one of the species we were after, the Wyberba leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius wyberba_). Unfortunately we missed out on seeing a Granite Belt thick-tailed gecko (_Underwoodisaurus sphyrurus_), which just means I'll have to go back there sometime and keep looking.





Lesueur's velvet gecko (_Oedura lesueurii_).






Southern spotted gecko (_Oedura tryoni_).






Southern spotted gecko (_Oedura tryoni_).






A species of Gehyra. Gehyra variegata has been recorded from the park, so it's probably that..






Granite leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius wyberba_).






Granite leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius wyberba_).​
We also saw a number of interesting non-reptile entities, included here for your viewing pleasure.





Spider thing.






A spider of some description.






Sundew.​
When we'd exploited Girraween as much as possible, we headed up to Brisbane.


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## LauraM (Jan 17, 2009)

Sweet photos i love the one of the Granite leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius wyberba_). Looks like its just painting on the rock


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## slacker (Jan 17, 2009)

Great shots, Safety Stew!

I hate you. Did I mention that previously? Do you know why?

I think I'm developing a taste for skinks. And it's all your fault :cry:


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## smacdonald (Jan 17, 2009)

slacker said:


> Great shots, Safety Stew!



Thanks!



slacker said:


> I hate you ... Do you know why?



Because I have 15mm more macro length than you?



slacker said:


> I think I'm developing a taste for skinks. And it's all your fault



Skinks are great! But I have to admit that I don't know what it is about their long, cylindrical bodies that I find so appealing.


Stewart


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## slacker (Jan 17, 2009)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> Because I have 15mm more macro length than you?



Well, almost. The fact that yours has VR and mine doesn't causes me to hate you more than the fact that you've got an extra 15mm.




reptilesDownUnder said:


> Skinks are great! But I have to admit that I don't know what it is about their long, cylindrical bodies that I find so appealing.



If nothing else, having an interest in them makes the more boring herping trips somewhat more interesting.


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## smacdonald (Jan 17, 2009)

slacker said:


> you've got an extra 15mm



Steady on - this is a family show.



slacker said:


> If nothing else, having an interest in them makes the more boring herping trips somewhat more interesting.



In the near future I'm going all the way up to the Bunya Mountains to find _Lampropholis colossus_. It looks virtually the same as _Lampropholis delicata_ (the common garden skink). Why am I going all that way to find it? Because it's there! If I find something less interesting than a small, brown skink (like, for example, a tiger snake), then the trip is even better.

BTW, Binna Burra has great skink diversity. I think you should plan a trip up there in the near future.


Stewart


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## slacker (Jan 17, 2009)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> Steady on - this is a family show.



Oh, woops. I've said too much :-o



reptilesDownUnder said:


> In the near future I'm going all the way up to the Bunya Mountains to find _Lampropholis colossus_. It looks virtually the same as _Lampropholis delicata_ (the common garden skink). Why am I going all that way to find it? Because it's there! If I find something less interesting than a small, brown skink (like, for example, a tiger snake), then the trip is even better.



Let me know when.... I've been wanting to go there, but Megan refuses because it's Tick Central.



reptilesDownUnder said:


> BTW, Binna Burra has great skink diversity. I think you should plan a trip up there in the near future.



Y'know, I think I might..................... ;-)


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## Snowman (Jan 17, 2009)

Awesome photo's! What camera do you use? And what lens do you use with it?


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## smacdonald (Jan 17, 2009)

Nikon D200. My main lens is the Nikkor 105mm VR macro. It's a great combination.


Stewart


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## ryanharvey1993 (Jan 19, 2009)

nice pics stewart, the dtella looks like gehyra dubia, is there much damaged rock outcrops from all the visitors to the park or is it fairly good


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## smacdonald (Jan 19, 2009)

ryanharvey1993 said:


> nice pics stewart, the dtella looks like gehyra dubia, is there much damaged rock outcrops from all the visitors to the park or is it fairly good



Hi Ryan,

I didn't notice any damaged rocks, but that's not to say there isn't damage around the place. Did you ever manage to get up to Girraween?


Stewart


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## serpenttongue (Jan 19, 2009)

Nice Cunningham Skinks.


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## ryanharvey1993 (Jan 19, 2009)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> Hi Ryan,
> 
> I didn't notice any damaged rocks, but that's not to say there isn't damage around the place. Did you ever manage to get up to Girraween?
> 
> ...


 
nah ended up going to lightning ridge then next trip went to warrumbungles


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## emmjay23 (Jan 20, 2009)

Sweet photos! I have trouble just trying to get a decent shot of my Childreni.. now I'm wishing I didn't wag those photography classes in year 11!
Thanks for sharing :O)


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