# Windorah or bust



## smacdonald (Jan 1, 2010)

I'm a ticker (as my recent Quest for 250 saga shows). I have a list of reptiles that I've seen. I like adding to my list. I woke up one day in early October and realised I'd never seen _Cyclodomorphus venustus_. This both shocked and worried me. What if I got hit by a bus today? Was I really happy knowing that I could die at any moment without seeing what is unarguably the most immaculate of all the _Cyclodomorphus_es? Of course not. But what to do about it? Jumping out of bed, I grabbed my phone and dialed.
"Hello, Jonno speaking." My good friend and mentor, Jonno Lucas from Educational Reptile Displays, answered the phone. I knew if anyone could find me my target species, it was Jonno.
"Jonno! It's me, Stewart", said me, Stewart. "I've just realised that I've never seen _Cyclodomorphus venustus_. Can you help?"
"No worries. I know a spot. I'll pick you up in half an hour."
After grabbing my swag, my camera gear and three kilograms of gummi bears, I waited out the front of my house. Thirty-six hours later, Jonno arrived. I tossed my gear in the tray of his ute and climbed aboard.
"So where's this spot?", I asked.
"About 100 kilometres west of Windorah."
"Windorah?!?? That's 1300 kilometres away! It'll take at least..." I did some quick calculations in my head. "...14 hours to get there."
Jonno dumped the clutch and said "That sounds like a challenge."

Eight and a half hours later we pulled up at the Western Star hotel in Windorah. These outback pubs are well known for having young, attractive, female European backpackers working at them. Sure enough, there was a cute young Irish girl smiling at us from behind the bar. We'd have to turn the testosterone up to eleven. I ordered a can of creamy soda and Jonno ordered a watermelon vodka cruiser. Jonno already has a devastatingly attractive girlfriend, so it was all up to me. Just as well, as I can't compete with his ponytail and earrings. The Irish lass had been in Australian for just a few weeks before getting the job in Windorah. Unfortunately, she'd been hit on by every guy who'd entered the pub since she arrived and as such, the Irish lass wasn't in the least bit interested in talking to me. Story of my life, really. At least I still had Jonno.

We downed our drinks and then hit the road again. It was still a few hours before sunset and it was still toasty warm outside. The plan was to drive out of town and see what we could see, before camping overnight and getting to our ultimate destination the next morning. We saw a number of critters on or beside the road.





Yellow-spotted monitor (_Varanus panoptes_)






Yellow-spotted monitor (_Varanus panoptes_)






Eastern blue-tongued skink (_Tiliqua scincoides scincoides_)






Inland bearded dragon (_Pogona vitticeps_)






Inland bearded dragon (_Pogona vitticeps_)






Inland bearded dragon (_Pogona vitticeps_)






Burns' dragon (_Amphibolurus burnsi_)






Little corella (_Cacatua sanguinea_) flock






Little corella (_Cacatua sanguinea_) flock






Little corella (_Cacatua sanguinea_) flock






Little corellas (_Cacatua sanguinea_)






Emus (_Dromaius novaehollandiae_). Dad and chicks.






Spinifex pigeon (_Geophaps plumifera_)






Red-tailed black-cockatoo (_Calyptorhynchus banksii_)​

As night approached, the temperature dropped rapidly. We still managed to find a couple of critters out and about just after sunset.





Smooth knob-tailed gecko (_Nephrurus levis_)






Tessellated gecko (_Diplodactylus tessellatus_)






Bynoe's gecko (_Heteronotia binoei_)






_Gehyra variegata_​
It was late and we were both feeling light headed (Jonno from his one cruiser, and me from the sweet smell of Guinness and potatoes that emanated from that pretty Irish lass) so we pitched our swags on the side of the road amongst the red sand and spinifex.
"Jonno?", I said, lying in my swag.
"Yes?"
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Stew."
That night my dreams were filled with images of four-leafed clovers, fossorial skinks and speed cameras. The next morning I awoke to a breathtaking view across the sand dunes. The dunes were covered in animal trackways from the previous night, and there were dragons and skinks running everywhere in the morning sunshine. Unfortunately they were running pretty fast, so I managed the photograph only a canegrass dragon (_Diporiphora winneckei_).





Windorah sand dunes






Canegrass dragon (_Diporiphora winneckei_)​
We rolled up our swags and packed the car. As we drove off, Jonno told me it would be only another hour or so until we'd reach our destination. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of finally seeing a _Cyclodomorphus venustus_. We were now traveling across the Morney Plain, a flat, featureless expanse of gibber and cracking black soil.





Looking out over the Morney Plain. Is that a snake in the distance?​
The Morney Plain is not well known for any one particular reptile species, but the deep soil cracks provide excellent shelter for a variety of small critters. As we drove west, Jonno spotted movement about 200 metres off the side of the road. We raced over to the spot and found a small Eyrean earless dragon (_Tympanocryptis tetraporophora_) down a soil crack. I wanted to get some decent photos of it, so I set up camp next to the soil crack while Jonno went looking for nothing in particular.





Waiting patiently for a _Tympanocryptis tetraporophora_ to emerge from his burrow. He didn't.






Eyrean earless dragon (_Tympanocryptis tetraporophora_)






Going walkabout on the Morney Plain.​
I spent about an hour in the blazing sun waiting for the little dragon to emerge, but he refused to cooperate. He remained motionless and unphotographable down his soil crack for the entire time. Jonno eventually tired of looking for nothing in particular and returned to collect me. We continued on to _venustus_ central, all the while keeping our eyes on the road for nothing in particular.
"So how do you know about this _venustus_ spot?", I asked, complete with italicisation.
"I read a forum post by this guy called Dr Danny Brown. He's the world's leading authority on obscure Australian reptile species. He discovered this spot in 2005 while out here on a bilby survey."
"So this information is reliable?"
"Yeah. Danny really knows what he's talking about. He's so knowledgeable, he could write a book. It'd probably only take him a few months."
"Well," I said. "Let's hope he...". I was cut off before I could finish.
"Listen! Do you smell that?", asked Jonno.
"What?"
"There's something on the road ahead."
Sure enough, as we crested the rise, a pair of wedge-tailed eagles, _Aquila audax_, came into view, feasting on a roo carcass on the road, and I decided to write, using as many commas as possible, about them upon my return. One of them took flight as we approached, but the other remained, his hunger obviously outweighing his caution.





Wedge-tailed eagle (_Aquila audax_)






Wedge-tailed eagle (_Aquila audax_)​
We sat in the car hoping the other eagle would return, but eventually we decided to move on. After all, we had a date with a skink! Jonno told me we were looking for a bore with a concrete water tank beside it. Surrounding this water tank would be clumps of saltbush. One of these clumps would look slightly greener than the others. It was in this greener clump that we would find our quarry.

We continued driving, slower now. Up ahead in the distance I saw a shimmering light. Light reflecting off a water body. A waterbody in a concrete tank. A concrete tank surrounded by saltbush. We had arrived.

I was so nervous. So much waiting, so much anticipation, all about to come to an end. I decided to delay the moment a bit. I had a look in the water tank and found it brimming with desert tree frogs (_Litoria rubella_). Eventually I tore myself away from the frogs and focussed on the reason we'd just driven 1400 kilometres.





Desert tree frog (_Litoria rubella_)​
Dr Brown's information was spot on. Even at a distance we could see that one of the clumps of saltbush was more verdant than the others. We jumped out of the car and headed straight for it. Sure enough, exactly as predicted by the good doctor, there was a _Cyclodomorphus venustus_ lounging in the saltbush. I took one picture, turned to Jonno, and we embraced. We'd accomplished our mission!





Saltbush slender blue-tongue (_Cyclodomorphus venustus_)​
I could now die a happy man. And, given the way Jonno drives, there was good chance I would die on the drive back home. (See below for a picture of what happened on Jonno's last herping trip).





Jonno's last car​
We drove back to Windorah, stopped for a honeycomb MaxiBon at the general store, and photographed some birds.





Black kite (_Milvus migrans_)






White-plumed honeyeater (_Lichenostomus penicillatus_). Mum and chicks.






White-plumed honeyeater (_Lichenostomus penicillatus_). Mum and chicks.​
Then we headed back home to Brisbane, still on a high after seeing the amazing _Cyclodomorphus venustus_.


----------



## Mudimans (Jan 1, 2010)

LOL Awesome, you obviously put alot of effort into this thread. Glad you managed to complete your mission


----------



## Jdsixtyone (Jan 1, 2010)

Wow!! That was a lot of effort ayy?


----------



## Freeloader (Jan 1, 2010)

Always look forward to threads like these. Great work well done and drive safely.


----------



## chickensnake (Jan 1, 2010)

That is a tonne of effort, but at least you are happy with your acomplishment of finding your "never seen skink". lol sounds like you 2 had fun.


----------



## smacdonald (Jan 1, 2010)

snakemadness said:


> Wow!! That was a lot of effort ayy?



It was totally worth it. I mean, look at the skink we found! Have you ever seen such a magnificent beast before??!?


Stewart


----------



## smacdonald (Jan 1, 2010)

chickensnake said:


> sounds like you 2 had fun.



More fun than I can write about here.


Stewart


----------



## Sock Puppet (Jan 1, 2010)

Great work, nice pics & amusing story.


----------



## Omgitschris (Jan 1, 2010)

looks like an awsome trip. one day i'd love to do something like that. theres a few interesting things you found that i wouldnt mind going out and seeing for myself


----------



## redbellybite (Jan 1, 2010)

If only my children were small ,I would use this as a bedtime story to fill their little minds with sunbeams and twinkling stars and the fact you so openly talked about embracing each other in a manly way of course  

loved the pics ...stew ...


----------



## moloch05 (Jan 1, 2010)

Good stuff, Stew, and very funny. You know, I think that hot Windorah sun plays havoc on one's mind!

Regards,
David


----------



## solar 17 (Jan 1, 2010)

*Outback story*

*A GREAT THREAD (excellent read).......CHEERS SOLAR 17 [BADEN]*


----------



## Sel (Jan 1, 2010)

Lol very cute story

Pics are good too!


----------



## Serpentes (Jan 1, 2010)

Good work- better than looking for buried treaure. And a quality read!


----------



## diprotodon (Jan 1, 2010)

great story well done great thread thanks


----------



## ozzieimages (Jan 1, 2010)

Hi Stewart, great story, fantastic pics, I am about to google up Windorah and start planing a trip out that way myself.

AWESOME...Thanks for sharing..

Baz


----------



## JasonL (Jan 2, 2010)

Champion effort..


----------



## Fuscus (Jan 2, 2010)

Great trip - love the pic of the RTBC


----------



## TURBO8 (Jan 2, 2010)

Excellent read , thanks for sharing with us !


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jan 2, 2010)

wow, that sounds like it was epic fun, were there several greener saltbushes? or just the one? thanks for sharing ur story with us.


Will


----------



## reptilerob (Jan 3, 2010)

Sensational photos and reports. Those gecko photos are brilliant.
I love the bearded dragon shot with the wide angle lens too. You must of just about been keaning on his nose to take that!!!
What size lens did you use for the wedge tailed eagle photos?


----------



## Lonewolf (Jan 3, 2010)

Now wheres the story of what happend to jonnos last truck?


----------



## smacdonald (Jan 3, 2010)

reptilerob said:


> What size lens did you use for the wedge tailed eagle photos?



70-200mm at the long end with a 2x teleconverter (so an effective focal length of 400mm). I was leaning out of the car window with my camera on a monopod. Then I had to crop the photo right down. They're really wary birds and we just couldn't get close to them.


Stewart


----------



## reptilerob (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks Stewart. I use to have a 70-200F2.8 with a 2 times converter and it was an awesome set-up. Unfortunately i had to sell it when i lost my job a few years ago.
I now have a 70-200 F4L which is a great little lens on its own, but no good with a converter.
Anyhow, i seem to end up with the compact all the time these days while my wife uses the DSLR!!LOL


----------



## deebo (Jan 3, 2010)

good story...entertaining!

Love the last photo of the bearded dragon...really cool.

Cheers,
Dave


----------



## Lozza (Jan 3, 2010)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> We'd have to turn the testosterone up to eleven. I ordered a can of creamy soda and Jonno ordered a watermelon vodka cruiser.


:lol: LMAO
Great story and fantastic pics as always Stewart


----------



## -Matt- (Jan 3, 2010)

Fantastic story and fantastic trip Haha, so entertaining and made me wish I was there so much! I'm going to have to make a trip out that way now...so many animals that I would love to see. Can I have an invite next time? lol. Great effort


----------



## smacdonald (Jan 3, 2010)

reptilerob said:


> I use to have a 70-200F2.8 with a 2 times converter and it was an awesome set-up. Unfortunately i had to sell it when i lost my job a few years ago.
> I now have a 70-200 F4L which is a great little lens on its own, but no good with a converter.



Is that the Canon one? Canon also have the very nice 100-400mm L series lens, something lacking in Nikon's range. Nikon do an 80-400, but it's slow and clunky. I opted for the 70-200 with the teleconverter. I think the results are better.


Stewart


----------



## smacdonald (Jan 3, 2010)

Mattsnake said:


> Can I have an invite next time?



Well, we saw _Cyclodomorphus venustus_. I don't think the Morney Plain has anything else to offer, so I'm not sure if it'd be worth going back out there.


Stewart


----------



## -Matt- (Jan 3, 2010)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> Well, we saw _Cyclodomorphus venustus_. I don't think the Morney Plain has anything else to offer, so I'm not sure if it'd be worth going back out there.
> 
> 
> Stewart


 
Im sure it would be worth going out there just to see that particular species  Anywhere where there are herps and birds to be seen is worth going to.


----------

