# NT & Qld herping trip - Alice Springs



## DanTheMan (Feb 21, 2011)

Continuing on from http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...dies-5373/nt-qld-herping-trip-western-155397/


After camping near the small border town of Camooweal, we left Queensland and entered the Northern Territory on the Barkley Tablelands, again targeting Speckled Browns basking on the road before it got too hot. One very fresh road kill was found, and so was a defect label.
We were pulled over at Avon Downs Police Station, where they did the usual checks, along with a vehicle inspection where they found a hole in the exhaust, and a crack on the windscreen. We were issued with a defect label, and were given 30 hours to drive the 1000km to Alice Springs, where we wouldn’t be able to drive the car until fixed and had a full inspection to check for other minor faults.
After a disheartening start to the day, we decided to continue on to Devils Marbles. Between the Police Station and there we saw bugger all apart from the usual V. gouldii.

Devils Marbles is a spectacular place







Chillin




We discovered that rocks can be funny!



Despite it being a very warm night, we found nothing in this area. We now know that this is because we were looking in the wrong spot!
The next day we headed to Alice Springs. 60km north of the city we found a;

Western Blue-tongue – _Tiliqua occipitalis

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11 days into the trip, we finally arrived at Alice Springs.



We nervously headed to the city centre, we were not sure how big this place was and whether or not they would have sufficient facilities to accommodate our needs over the next week while getting the car fixed. We were extremely relieved when we finally saw what we were looking for. Those heavenly golden arches, they had McDonalds!
Like everywhere else we went, this was a new place to us and we were itching to do some herping! But this couldn’t be done until the car was fixed! After getting a new windscreen and a new muffler thrown in, we took it in for inspection for them to find a heap of small things that needed doing that would later add up to $1000 on top of what had already been spent on the old Pajero.
Finally after all the vehicle dramas were over, we were able to do some much awaited herping! Despite having hot days, the nights were pretty cold at this time of year due to the high elevation of Alice Springs, as soon as the sun went down the temperature would fall dramatically. But we still managed to find some animals of interest in the Alice area, but missed out on the ones at the top of the list this time.

Rough Knob-tailed Gecko – _Nephrurus amya

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Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos were extremely common, so common we didn’t bother getting photos. Fat-tailed Geckos were extremely common, but we took a photo of one.

Fat-tailed Gecko – _Diplodactylus conspicillatus

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Mesa Gcko – _Diplodactlyus galeatus_



Beaked Gecko – _Rhynchoedura ornata

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Gehyra purpurescens_
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__Gehyra montium_
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I never thought I would say this, but there is such a thing as a good looking Bynoes Gecko… The ones found in Alice are quite different. I believe Bynoes are also in the proccess of being split, who knows what this may end up being.
_Heteranotia binoei_
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Stimsons Pythons – _Antaresia stimsoni

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Unbanded Shovel-nosed Snake -_ Brachyurophis incinctus

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Narrow-banded Shovel-nosed Snake – _Brachyurophis fasciolatus fasciatus

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Mulga Snakes continued to be the most common snake on the trip, but the ones in this area were stunning_.
__Pseudechis australis_
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_An unfortunate looking Western Brown – _Pseudonaja mengdeni, _not the stunning gold body, black head form._

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Northern Delma – _Delma borea

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Centralian Bandy Bandy – _Vermicella vermiformis





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We saw planty of frogs, but unfortunately didn’t bother photographing some of them despite them being new species to us. We’re idiots sometimes. But heres a few we did photograph!

Centalian Tree Frog – _Litoria gilleni



Limnodynastes spenceri


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This was one monitor we had really wanted to see in this area, and we found 2! Only photographed this one though.

Perentie – _Varanus giganteus_







The Perenties home




Ridge-tailed Monitor – _Varanus acanthurus

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Freckled Monitor – _Varanus tristis

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Long Nosed Dragons – _Amphibolurus longirostris _





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Some scenery shots from around the Alice Springs area



Simpsons Gap




After a bit of herping in the Alice Springs area, we head for Uluru. I thought this place would be over rated… Not at all!



















The Olgas were just as impressive



Some habitat on the way to Uluru



We hung around the Olgas until sunset and then made our way back to Erldunda on the Stuart Highway. This night was unlike the others, its was freakin’ hot! We managed to find plenty of geckos and a few other things, but again we missed out on the target species! (Woma Python and Desert Death Adder).

Centralian Blue Tongues – _Tiliqua multifasciata_ were common at dusk


_Lerista desertorum_




A bad shot of a very small juvinile Western Hooded Scaly-foot – _Pygopus nigriceps



__Delma nasuta_
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We saw plenty of Shovel-nosed Snakes, but only one was new to us.

Southern Shovel-nosed Snake – _Brachyurophis semifasciatus

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The only other snake we saw was a very yellow Mulga found when looking at a gecko on the road, from a distance I thought it was a Woma! No pictures…

Uluru is a great spot for Knob-tailed Geckos.

Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko – _Nephrurus levis levis



_Different gecko
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We also found a Pale Knob-tailed Gecko – _Nephrurus laevissimus

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The next day, we left Erldunda and head north towards Darwin. We had no real plans where we would end up on this day, and as there wasn’t much interesting in between there and Katherine. That day we nearly drove the length of the Northern Territory. 1,300km later we stopped just south of Katherine, which can wait until chapter 6!


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## snakeluvver (Feb 21, 2011)

Wow very jealous  can you take me next time :lol:


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## Dannyboi (Feb 21, 2011)

Favs are the Perentie and the Gillens Tree Frog.


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## cadwallader (Feb 21, 2011)

Amazing photos mate 
Looks like it was an amazing trip


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## Darlyn (Feb 21, 2011)

I'm not sure what is more outstanding your ability to find herps or your magnificent skill with a camera.
Thank you for sharing.


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## ecosnake (Feb 21, 2011)

I love alice its an awesome place..specially if you want to see gecko's.....1000's of them. did you see any Woma or central adders?


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## DanTheMan (Feb 22, 2011)

Missed out on the both of them unfortunately, they were our main 2 targets! Found a Woma last week though, just a few hundred km's from here.


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## Grogshla (Feb 22, 2011)

mate!!!! thanks for the great photos. Love to see the true Australia!!! sooo beautiful. Also great photography and some beautiful reptiles in there. Thanks again for sharing mate.


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## Jay84 (Feb 22, 2011)

These threads are really brightening my morning!


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## Wild~Touch (Feb 22, 2011)

They make my day too


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## Tassie97 (Feb 22, 2011)

WOW !!!! thats incredible


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## AllThingsReptile (Feb 22, 2011)

some awesome shots, and some awesome herps, might have to organise a trip there myself


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## ellysteaparty (Feb 22, 2011)

Thank you for bringing that to my front door. Amazing! I will keep coming back to post to just stare....


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## byron_moses (Feb 22, 2011)

wow another great report there thanks for sharing


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## -Matt- (Feb 22, 2011)

Wow all those places and animals look really familiar!


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## abnrmal91 (Feb 22, 2011)

Awesome photos good work


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## DanTheMan (Feb 22, 2011)

-Matt- said:


> Wow all those places and animals look really familiar!



G'day Matt

I am unsure as to why this would be, I only take cool people herping.

Damn these freakin pictures re-aligning themselves! Is it just my computer or are some of them popping out of line? I fixed it so many times but it keeps happening, it was fine yesterday....


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## -Matt- (Feb 23, 2011)

DanTheMan said:


> G'day Matt
> 
> I am unsure as to why this would be, I only take cool people herping.
> 
> Damn these freakin pictures re-aligning themselves! Is it just my computer or are some of them popping out of line? I fixed it so many times but it keeps happening, it was fine yesterday....



G'day Daniel,

It is just your crap skills...


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## sarcastocrat (Feb 25, 2011)

Wow, these are beautiful photos. Love to get out there myself. Don't know if I could take the heat though! Hot days in Sydney kill me!


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## GeckoJosh (Feb 25, 2011)

Great pics, amazing trip, Im sooooo jealous lol
Thanks for sharing them with us, best thread iv seen in a while

Cheers Josh


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## mmafan555 (Apr 23, 2011)

Coolest thread ever...My god I would love to just go on some wild trekking adventure in Australia...It's such an unexplored and wild continent and I feel like their are so many secrets about it that most people don't know about compared to the more densely populated continents.

By the way the Mulga is the coolest snake ever....How common are they in Alice Springs.


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## solar 17 (Apr 23, 2011)

"GREAT PICS" "Thanks" for sharing.....solar 17 [baden]


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## Daryl_H (Apr 23, 2011)

awsome just awsome!!!!!!!!


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## DanTheMan (Apr 24, 2011)

Thanks guys!



mmafan555 said:


> By the way the Mulga is the coolest snake ever....How common are they in Alice Springs.


 
Mulga's were pretty common in this area, as they are throughout most of inland Qld and NT. They were by far the most common snake on this trip, I can't remember the exact figure but we saw close to 30 I think. Never get sick of seeing them either, all so different from one region to the next. Alice Springs have some of the best looking Mulga's I have ever seen.


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## ShaneBlack (Apr 24, 2011)

That "unfortunate" mengdens is my favourite from that lot lol.....with the accie a close second. Nice pics.


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## scratchy (Apr 24, 2011)

Fantastic pics! And excellent finds ! Great work.


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## DanTheMan (Apr 24, 2011)

Haha Shane, we all have different tastes! Those accie pics didn't turn out at all, they looked much nicer in real life, much yellower.


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## cactus2u (Apr 29, 2011)

Stunning photos Well done!!!! My wife & I plan to get there sometime Seeing these pics makes me wanna do it sooner than later. Might just have to fire up the housebus & do a road trip


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## HypnoticSlither (Apr 29, 2011)

bloody hell! they are incredible! we live in the best country .... what is the_ Limnodynastes spenceri ?? _and was it under rocks? im very confused i have looked at it 3 times! hehe


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## DanTheMan (Apr 29, 2011)

It's a small burrowing frog, they were on the Todd River bed (it wasn't flowing) and would burry themselves into the sand quite quickly when disturbed, cool little frogs!


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## HypnoticSlither (Apr 29, 2011)

wow thats unreal! great work!


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## Atrax1207 (May 15, 2011)

Waaaaa, Australia is so beautiful!!! :O And what cool reptiles too! You can consider yourself very lucky!
Beautiful animals, keep it up!


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## Treknotechelaps (Jun 10, 2011)

Very Impressive Photos!!!! 
Great vareity of species too..
the Mulga Snake is evil, is this colour morph local to central Australia or more widespread, luv the Brachyurophis and Vermicella too, and the rest... cant wait for ya nxt post...


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