# NT & Qld herping trip - Western Brigalow Belt - Mt. Isa (Massive DUW)



## DanTheMan (Feb 21, 2011)

Sorry guys but this is going to be one of 3 or 4 massive posts, this one covering the Western Brigalow Belt to Mt. Isa in October last year. I will try to leave as many boring species out as possible, the link above it will take you to my unfinished website that is a long way from completion, so bare with me!

Chapter 1 – Western Brigalow Belt, Qld | Dans Wild Australia

After spending nearly 7 months on a 350,000 acre cattle station in the Kimberely region of Western Australia with only 5 other people, it was good to be back home on the seemingly heavy populated Sunshine Coast, Qld. I had just flown into Brisbane from Darwin after a 10 hour bus trip from Kununurra, WA. My family was basking in my presence and making the most of the 24 hours I would be home before leaving on a long awaited field herping trip through the Northern Terriotry and Queensland where we would find some 140 species of reptiles and amphibians over 6 weeks, and cover nealry 20,000km of outback roads!


The next morning, the faithful (at the time) old Pajero was packed to the roof with Coke and Mi Goreng. Katy Perry, Kesha and Lady Gaga loaded on the iPod, and we were set to go! First stop, McDonalds at Dalby!
After a nice fill of fries, coke and a Grand Angus burger, we headed west where we were to endure 8 days before we would reach the next Maccas stop at Mount Isa.
On the way to one of our favourite herping spots where we would target Spotted Black Snakes – _Pseudechis guttatus_, we found a few reptiles basking on the roads.

Eastern Bearded Dragon – _Pagona barbata_



Red-bellied Black Snake – _Pseudechis porphyriacus_

 





Basalt Delma – _Delma plebeia

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4 hours later we arrived at our Spotted Black spot, and found a few individuals within a few minutes.
Spotted Black – _Pseudechis guttatus

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A different animal






Other snakes seen in this area include Mulga Snakes - _Pseudechis australis_
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Another _Delma plebeia _found in the same area as the Spotted Blacks. She was heavily gravid.

 

The nights were much cooler than we would have liked, but there was still a few things sitting on the roads.
Burtons Legless Lizard – _Lialis burtonis_



Golden-tailed Gecko – _Strophurus taenicauda_







Tesselated Gecko – _Diplodactylus tessellatus

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Box-patterend Gecko – _Lucasium steindachneri_



Red-naped Snake – _Furina diadema_







Dwyers Sanke – _Parasuta dwyeri

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Broad-banded Sand-swimmer – _Eremiascincus richardsonii_



Due to the recent heavy rains in this area, frogs were plentiful. Unfortunately, like most of the areas we went to, we didn’t think to photograph everything we came across. So few frogs were photographed in this area, about 4 will miss out on featuring in this post.
Ornate Burrowing Frog – _Limnodynastes ornartus _slapping us high-5



Holy Cross Frog – _Notaden bennettii, _these frogs secrete a sticky substance from their back that’s like super-glue!



Salmon Striped Frog – Limnodynastes salmini



One thing we didn’t expect to see on the road, this Yabby!



We did plan on hanging around this area for another night to find another few species we missed out on, but due to our intolerance of severe boredom and ridiculous quantities of mosquitoes, we continued west to the town of St. George.

Chapter 2 – SW Queensland area | Dans Wild Australia

Why stop at St. George you ask? They have no McDonalds! Unfortunately this is true, but the Mulga Snakes found in this area are a spectacular red, and we thought we should photograph one.
It was nearing sunset, and after a feast of Mangos on the banks of the swollen Balonne River, we decided to head to Bollon in hope of some diurnal elapids basking on the road catching the suns last rays. Mulga Snakes were not the only target for this area, we knew a spot good for _Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha _(Strap Snouted Brown Snake) on the way to Cunumulla, and were yet to photograph one. We did see one, but again we failed to photograph it. Despite what Matt might say, it was not due to the speed at which I was travelling!
But, just after the sun had gone down, we came across a St. George Mulga basking on the side of the road! Unfortunately it was not the best example, but a nice looking one none the less!
Mulga Snake – _Pseudechis australis

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We arrived at Bollon just on dark and decided to keep going and herp our way to Cunumulla
Marbled Velvet Gecko – _Oedura marmorata_



Curl Snakes – _Suta suta _were common on this trip, the fact that this is the only photo I have of them explains how interesting they are.



Eastern Hooded Scaly Foot – _Pygopus schraderi

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Eastern Spiny-tailed Gecko_ – Strophurus williamsi

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We arrived at Cunumulla late that night, hoping for a bed to sleep in and a nice hot shower. Our hopes and dreams were shattered when the only motel/pub that was open had no vacancies. After a surprisingly good nights sleep on the hard ground and a belly full of Mi Goreng, we packed up our gearand headed for Quilpie_.
_Between Cunumulla and Charleville, the sun was out and a few lizards were basking on the roads.

Sand Monitor – _Varanus gouldii

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Central Bearded Dragon – _Pogona vitticeps_
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Once we hit Charleville, the weather packed it in and rained all the way to Quilpie, continuing into the night. Temperatures were well below average for this time of the year, so apart from flipping a few rocks and finding some new skink species, we wrote the night off as a failure. Without trying any further we decided to attend to the beer we had picked up earlier in Charleville.
But here is a few of the many lizards we saw near Quilpie when heading to Windorah the next day.

Central Netted Dragon – _Ctenophorus nuchalis

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Male Burns Dragon – _Amphibilurus burnsi

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Chapter 3 – Windorah, Qld | Dans Wild Australia

We had been keen on getting to Windorah for some time, especially after our last trip in February 2010, when the area had insane amounts of rain, and Windorah was inaccessible due to the Cooper Creek resembling an inland sea. A few explicatives were thrown around when we got to the ‘creek’ that cut our trip short. We were hoping this time would be different, the road report was looking good despite the rain we had overnight, so we were on our way to the herp the red sand dunes of Windorah!
This was the Cooper Creek that sunk our stomachs on the last trip – Photo taken by Matt



And the site this time! 



Needles to say, we were stoked! With spirits high, we cruised into Windorah with Katy Perry blasting out the stereo, singing along at the top of our lungs, admiring the sites we saw.
Windorah Solar Farm







Chillin’ in the dunes - Photo taken by -Matt-

 
These dunes were home to a few lizard species
Central Military Dragon – _Ctenophorus isolepis gularis_ (male)



Blue-lined Dragon – _Diporiphora winneckei

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Sand Monitor – _Varanus gouldii

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Away from the dunes, we found this giant Mulga Snake – _Pseudechis australis

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Central Bearded Dragon -_ Pogona vitticeps_ sorting out a spot to drop some eggs.



That night, we walked through the dunes in search of Smooth Knob-tailed Geckos – _Nephurus levis levis _and Jewelled Geckos – _Strophurus elderi._
I know I already have too many photos of Bearded Dragons from this trip, this is the last one I swear! This guy was trying to catch some shut eye, but the numerous flashes going off in his face was preventing him from doing so.




This chick wasn’t to happy about being woken either – _Diporiphora winneckei_



Again, it was unseasonably cold. We had been walking through the dunes for hours quoting various dirty lines from some of Kesha’s latest hits, finding the odd gecko species, but none of the targets yet!
Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko – _Strophurus ciliaris

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Variegated Dtella – _Gehyra variegata

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After putting up with the cold southerly wind blowing on us for long enough, we had given up and were heading back to camp. I was about 50 metres from my tent when I herd a crunching noise. I pointed my torch in the direction of the noise to reveal, yes! A Knob-tailed Gecko, munching on a cockroach!
Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko – _Nephurus levis levis_







Although we didn’t locate a Jewelled Gecko, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

The next day we rose at sunrise and started to get ready to head to the Morney Plain. It was a shame to leave our prime piece of real-estate.



We kissed Windorah goodbye and headed to the featurless plains in search of two elapids. The Inland Taipan – _Oxyuranus microlepidotus _(despite it being the wrong time of year), and Speckled Brown Snakes (note the plural, I was feeling lucky) – _Pseudonaja guttata.
_60km out of town, engine temperature climbing rapidly, steam coming out of bonnet, many more explicatives.



After doing a bit of herping (and failing) and sitting in the car for a few hours, we realised that this was not the best place for the water pump to crap out. Eventually a Land Cruiser appeared on the horizon heading East, fantastic! It was coming from Morney Station, they managed to fit me in the front and gave me a lift to Merv’s servo where I could arrange a tow, and a new water pump. The others were left with the car. If you have been through Windorah, you will know Merv! Nice old fellow that’s always in a good mood and has plenty of jokes up his sleeve. Merv is a trusting man, he is blind and can’t see how much fuel you are getting, so you have to tell him how much, and the amount of money you’re giving him.
After ordering a new water pump from Charleville for me, which was going to take 3 days, Merv called Merv up to get him to give us a tow (I think everyone was called Merv in this town). He picked me up and we headed to get poor old Pajy and the occupants.




days in a town as small as Windorah goes pretty slow. Every day we were there was windy and cold (day time temps around 25°C and nights around 10°C!) but walking the dunes during the day produced a different looking Western Brown!

Western Brown Snake_ – Pseudonaja mengdeni_










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Ctenotus hebetior

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If you ever wondered what herping without a car looked like, see below.



This method in the cold weather only produced fluffy things like this.



Our new camp wasn’t quite as spectacular as the last



On our 4th day in Windorah, Merv had great news for us. The water pump had arrived! We installed it ourselves straight away, although it was too late in the afternoon to head to the Morney Plain, so we did a local herp. This night was slightly warmer, but still not as warm as I would have liked.
We came across a few geckos, one being another _N. levis levis


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The next day, we packed up and finally left Windorah! We were now at 8 days without McDonalds, and it was starting to take its toll. Fatigue was setting in, and we had to make it to Mt. Isa ASAP!
We passed through the Morney Plain, and to our surprise it was a luscious green (for an arid region such as this). This had been a very wet year for this area and the place was blooming. While this may seem like great news, it was not to us, as it makes looking for Inland Taipans so much harder!



Regrettably, we didn’t put much effort into looking for Inland Tai’s, but we did stop for a few Earless Dragon species.
Smooth Snouted Earless Dragon – _Tympanocryptis intima_


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Tympanocryptis intima

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Tympanocryptis intima

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Tympanocryptis intima__

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We drove throughout the day, not stopping until we arrived at Dajarra, Qld. The next instalment of this trip will include pictures from there (Dajarra) and Mt. Isa. Yes, where there’s McDonalds!

Chapter 4 – Dajarra-Mt. Isa area | Dans Wild Australia

After 8 days in a small town, living on Mi Goreng and steak burgers from the local cafe (if you could call it that) we were hanging for a real meal at McDonalds! So after a few interruptions from some various dragons on the Morney Plain, we headed for Mt. Isa! We drove as far as we could in about 15 hours, which brought us to Dajarra. A great place for stunning Common Death Adders and Black Headed Pythons. Unfortunately we didn’t arrive to this area until around midnight when things obviously weren’t so active, as we didn’t see anything around Dajarra, but did find a Curl Snake (damn it!) and a Moon Snake further south near Boulia much earlier in the night. No photos were taken of the Curl Snake for obvious reasons.
During the day near Bedourie we came across this monster!

Yellow Spotted Monitor – _Varanus panoptes_







Moon Snake – _Furina ornata

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The next day we were in no major rush to get out of Dajarra, Macca’s don’t stop serving their crappy breakfast menu until 10am.
After searching through the rubbish dump, flipping bits of tin and other various items with producing very little other than a few common gecko and skink species, we continued on to Mt. Isa.
There was some nice scenery to be seen in the area.







On the way to Mt. Isa, we didn’t see a great deal of live reptiles. But we did however see a few road kill animals we were keen to see alive.
Gravid Black Headed Python – _Aspidites melanocephalus

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Spencers Monitor – _Varanus spenceri

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Finally after 9 days in pretty much no-where, we arrived at Mt. Isa! The capital of outback Queensland! I had been through here twice before, so I new exactly where I was going! Straight to 16-20 Simpson St, yeah you guessed it, McDonalds!
It was probably the best Grand Angus burger I have ever had. The fries were fresh, hot and crispy, and the coke washed it all down like magic! We spent a good hour or so in there, making the most of the air conditioning (unlike SW Qld, it was actually hot here!) and making the most of the free internet. We stuffed around doing various things you do in towns to kill time while waiting for it to get dark.
Once the sun had set, we finally made our way out of town in search of Common Death Adders! We had never seen any sort of Death Adder in the wild before, and we were very keen to do so.

We were amazed to come across the first adder only just out of the city, right after sun set. We had been looking for them for about 30 seconds when we saw that beautiful slug sitting in the middle of the road. To say a little bit of yahooing went on would be an understatement! Look at this stunning creature!

Due to the current situation with _Acanthophis_, I am told that this species of Adder found in the Mt. Isa – Dajarra area are not actually _A. antarticus_, so for now I shall leave them as _Acanthophis_ sp. until they are properly described.
_Acanthophis sp._







We spent a bit of time drooling over it, got a few quick pictures and went on our way again, as we didn’t want to miss out on anything else!
After driving another few minutes, we came across another Adder! This one was even better looking than the last, with almost no black on it, and in the middle of taking a dump! He or she had its tail up in the air, backing one out. At first this gave me a fright as a car had just been past, and I thought it had been hit. The Adder was ok, but another car was coming behind us, so we didn’t get pictures of this one.

Despite the night kicking off with a bang, that was all we found apart from the token Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos.

We came through Mt. Isa a second time on our way to North Queensland, so I though rather than have a whole other chapter for it, I would include it in this post.
The second time we came through, it was much hotter, and there were a few thunderstorms lingering around. We decided to spice things up, so while we were waiting for it to get dark we stuffed our faces with pizza at Eagle Boys. Once the last of the light had finally left the sky, we headed back to where we found the Death Adders a few weeks before.
We didn’t find any more Adders, but a few other elapid species. We only photographed one as the others we had already photographed in the Northern Territory. The one we did photograph was something we were hoping to see in this area, it was a new species for us.

Pygmy Mulga Snake – _Pseudechis pailsi_
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We then headed to Cloncurry, about 100km east of Mt. Isa. On the way we found a few more snakes.
Near patternless Children’s Python – _Antaresia childreni_







It was nearing midnight when we found this normally diurnal species. High temperatures sometimes cause them to come out at night when it’s cooler.

Northern Brown Snake – _Pseudechis nuchalis_


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We arrived in Cloncurry late at night, went straight to a caravan park to set up our tents to get a few hours sleep before heading to Normanton in the Gulf of Carpentaria the next day in search of Olive Pythons. But that’s a much later post, as there is still all of Northern Territory to go! After the 1st night in Isa, we drove to Camooweal and spent the night there before heading across the Barkley Tablelands early in the morning in search of Speckled Browns – _Pseudonaja guttata _afterfailing in Windorah.

The next post shall be Alice Springs!


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## Dannyboi (Feb 21, 2011)

So your inviting me on the next trip right? ahahah Excellent pics and it looks like you had a great time.


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## junglepython2 (Feb 21, 2011)

Awesome post, great camera work.


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## byron_moses (Feb 21, 2011)

great report guys seems like u had a blast. GO THE MIGHTY PAJY


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## -Matt- (Feb 21, 2011)

byron_moses said:


> great report guys seems like u had a blast. GO THE MIGHTY PAJY



Do not support Pajy...she is not mighty! She just gave us a terrible weekend!!!


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## ecosnake (Feb 21, 2011)

nice work guys...great photos


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## Sock Puppet (Feb 22, 2011)

Great pics & narration. That first shot of the _guttatus_ is killer, super shot that!


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## Constantine200 (Feb 22, 2011)

That was fantastic, love the photography.


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## viridis (Feb 22, 2011)

That is an awesome post Dan. I have spent many nights in Dajarra and have found that to hold the best coloured V. acanthurus in Australia.

You mentioned that you were on a station in the Kimberley? What station Dan? I lived up there in 2006 and it was the best herping of my life.

Unreal post mate

Nick


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## Jay84 (Feb 22, 2011)

What an amusing post with amazing pictures. Well done guys and thanks for sharing!


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## Smithers (Feb 22, 2011)

Cracking images n a good read,..Cheers


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## lizardjasper (Feb 22, 2011)

Awwwwww man, seriously AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## XKiller (Feb 22, 2011)

You got way to much time on your hands Dan,


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## Dusty62 (Feb 22, 2011)

Dan that was great, I only wish my holidays were like that. Some really nice photography there too.


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## AnimalCollector6 (Feb 22, 2011)

Seriously awesome, That little fluffy thing was some kind of Dunnart too, just so ya know .


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## DanTheMan (Feb 22, 2011)

viridis said:


> That is an awesome post Dan. I have spent many nights in Dajarra and have found that to hold the best coloured V. acanthurus in Australia.
> 
> You mentioned that you were on a station in the Kimberley? What station Dan? I lived up there in 2006 and it was the best herping of my life.
> 
> ...



Shame we missed out on them in Dajarra then! Do you have any pictures of them? Would love to see what they look like in that area. I think any reptile found near Dajarra has stunning colours!

I worked on Spring Creek Station, down Duncan Road just over the border. Was an unreal experience and there is certainly some insane herps there! I didn't do as much herping as I should have unfortunately as the place is crawling with reptiles! Hope to get back up there on a deticated herping trip very soon.


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## Mudimans (Feb 22, 2011)

nice post, can't wait to hear the rest of your talk thursday night. Nervous?


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## -Matt- (Feb 22, 2011)

Mudimans said:


> nice post, can't wait to hear the rest of your talk thursday night. Nervous?



Can I answer for myself? YES!!!


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## jordo (Feb 23, 2011)

Awesome thread, you did well.


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## Umbral (Feb 23, 2011)

All i can say is I'm so jealous! Great photos and sounds like a great experiance!


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## AUSHERP (Feb 23, 2011)

i find anything from the dajarra region is beautiful especially the adders! great pics i bet you had a blast!!!


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## jordanmulder (Feb 24, 2011)

love that second spotted black snake shot and that diphora (spelling) shot.


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## phoebe (Feb 25, 2011)

I'd love to do something like this one day. Excellent pics 
P.S. Maccas breakfast is awesome!


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