# Herping Australia during the worst time of year - Part 1



## StephenZozaya (Sep 21, 2010)

In July (the middle of winter here in AU) I joined my friend Kris (Naivepom) for the first half of his trans-Australia roadtrip. We left from Townsville, QLD, heading west to the Northern Territory, south to Uluru, and finally north to the Darwin area. I flew back to Townsville on August 3rd after 20 days on the road. Kris continued on into WA for a further 6 weeks of reptiles, beaches and awesome views. 

This post will cover from the beginning of the trip to the Uluru area. Part 2 will have content from the Top End of the Northern Territory. Photos are roughly in chronological order. I'll try and keep narration to a minimum.

The first night of the trip we found this De Vis mud adder (_Denisonia devisi_) near a drying pool east of Julia Creek, QLD. I imagine it was looking to feed on the _Litoria inermis_ that were hanging around the pool.











The nearby bridge had lots of _Gehyra dubia_ running about.






The next day we reached the mining town of Mt. Isa. From here we took a short trip south to the town of Dajarra, hoping that a few herps might be active. We stopped off of the roadside to have a look about in some promising habitat. The first rock I flipped had this little guy under it.

Rusty-topped delma (_Delma borea_)










A central bearded dragon (_Pogona vitticeps_) found on the road to Dajarra.





Tree dtella (Gehyra variegata)





The highlight of the day was to be found at the Dajarra dump.
Ridge-tailed monitor (_Varanus acanthurus_)










We stayed in Dajarra until nightfall, hoping to find some reptiles on the road back to Mt. Isa. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and we had an uneventful trip back to the Isa.

The next day we decided to head to Lawn Hill Gorge National Park. Luck was not on our side and we managed to get a flat tire near one of the Riversleigh fossil sites. After a quick hike around to look at fossils we threw on the spare and turned around. We only had one spare and didn't want to risk getting another flat on the gravel road. Not all was lost, though. The waterways in the area were absolutely teaming with Gilbert's dragons (_Amphibolurus gilberti_). These guys are fast as hell and getting photos of them took us a while.










That night we pushed west into the Northern Territory. Kris thought he spotted a few geckos moving off of the road so we stopped and had a wander around the spinifex grass. It didn't take long until I found a northern spiny-tailed gecko (_Strophurus ciliaris_). We found several more that night and over the next few days.















It was pretty cool out during the night, so I was surprised to find this gorgeous little spotted snake (_Suta punctata_) on the road to Barkly Homestead.











The following day involved getting a new tire in Tennant Creek followed by the drive south to Alice Springs. About an hour south of Tennant Creek is the area known as Devil's Marbles, which is a collection of large orange granite boulders in an otherwise featureless landscape. This place is VERY touristy. Nevertheless, we had so much luck that we stopped by again on the trip back north. These photos are from both of our visits to the site.

Devil's Marbles










Rock ctenotus (_Ctenotus saxatilis_)










Ridge-tailed monitor (_Varanus acanthurus_)










A gravid stimson's python (_Antaresia stimsoni_) found basking on a boulder.










Unbanded delma (Delma butleri).










The local tourist-fed dingo.






A few hours later we reached Alice Springs. We decided to head to West Macdonnell National Park and take a look at a few of the gorges. We cruised the road at night hoping for anything but found only a roadkilled bearded dragon. Flipping rocks yielded _Heteronotia binoei_ and _Gehyra variegata_ (neither of which I photographed). It was very getting very cold at night (min of 3C if I remember) and the only new herp I saw in all of the southern Northern Territory was a lone centralian dtella (_Gehyra montium_). I think the Australian _Gehyra_ are highly underrated.











The next day we drove to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where I took obligatory photos of the world's most famous rock as well as chase around a few camels.

Mt. Conner





Dromedary camels





Kata Tjuta, the Olgas.










I thought it was going to be highly overrated, but Uluru (Ayers Rock) really is pretty neat.





Thats all for this post. Check back for Part 2, which will include lots of stuff from the Katherine, Darwin and Kakadu NP areas.


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## nazza (Sep 21, 2010)

Thats some great pics Stephen! Looks like a pretty good trip all things considered. Makes me sooo much more jealous about the herping trip Mattsnake is about to go on


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## giglamesh (Sep 21, 2010)

amazing shot. very jealous 
whats under the chin of the Ridge-tailed monitor


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## marina (Sep 21, 2010)

nice pics XD


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## -Matt- (Sep 21, 2010)

Incredible post Stephen! Almost identical to a herping trip I am just about to embark on. This makes me even more excited for it! Looking forward to part 2.


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## jordanmulder (Sep 21, 2010)

those photos are great, this thread made my night. Nuce to see some v.acanthrus that gave me a smile.


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## JasonL (Sep 21, 2010)

Fantastic photos, well done, thanks for posting...


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## kkjkdt1 (Sep 21, 2010)

Great pics, cant wait for more.
Well done.


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## reptilerob (Sep 21, 2010)

Easily one of the best herping reports i have ever seen on this site, fantastic, well done.


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## Gusbus (Sep 21, 2010)

cool stuff dude,


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## Elapidae1 (Sep 21, 2010)

Great post mate, inspiring, if it wasn't 8:45pm I would probably go herping, LOL.


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## najanaja (Sep 21, 2010)

great pics mate...i had the pleasure of driving fom the Gold Coast to Darwin a few years back...
I planned on taking 3 days but ended up taking 10..i loved Barkley, well Isa to 3 ways,, i stayed 2 days at Barkley Homestead and found some amazing adders in the area...
Im glad you showed th Spotted snake because i saw a few of them at the time and want sure on what they were...
I did the trip in August and the amount of animals in the small towns forced there by the draught was amazing too...


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## Nephrurus (Sep 22, 2010)

Rusty topped delma? who makes up these common names?  

How did you find that Delma butleri?

-H


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## byron_moses (Sep 22, 2010)

thanks for the great pics stephen love the last pic 

those camels are everywhere out there


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## Sock Puppet (Sep 22, 2010)

Fantastic pics, love the spiny tail licking it's eye, great work.


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## Jay84 (Sep 22, 2010)

Great post with some amazing pics!


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## StephenZozaya (Sep 22, 2010)

Thanks for the kind words! This post has only got one comment over of FieldHerpForum. I guess it doesn't have enough rattlesnakes and garter snakes for their liking..



Nephrurus said:


> Rusty topped delma? who makes up these common names?
> 
> How did you find that Delma butleri?
> 
> -H


 
Rusty-topped delma.. Hmmmm I do wonder 

The D. butleri was chilling out under a rock next to some spinifex. It was the second Delma I flipped that trip. I tried perfecting my Delma flipping techniques, but it seems that I lost my touch after that one.

Stephen


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## Nephrurus (Sep 22, 2010)

Don't be disheartened about FHF. My mammoth 6-week kimberley herping post recieved about 10 comments ( Field Herp Forum &bull; View topic - North Kimberley, WA, Australia ). You've got to remember that it's all foreign to most of the members (more or less) and they have no real knowledge (generally)of the species (e.g. they don't know how painful Delma's can be to find) so they can't comment. I'm that way with alot of foreign posts. I guess alot of it goes over my head. Rattlesnakes are pretty cool though. 

-H


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## StephenZozaya (Sep 22, 2010)

Good point. Your kimb post should have gotten way more attention. I think even foreigners could appreciate V. glauerti!

Stephen


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