Darwin Herpers

[MarcAtterton]

G'day

Ive just booked a trip up to go to Darwin in the middle of July
I was just wanting to know what herps if any are out around that time,
I will be doing tours and hopefully the cage dive with the crocs but I would like to do a bit of spotting when out and about in the car.

Hoping some Darwin Herpers can let me know if it's worthwhile going out for a spot and maybe possibly pointing me into the right locations where i can take my nephew for a road drive or something that is not too physically exhausting for a 6 year old,

Cheers. Marc

 

[jedi_339]

There are numerous good spots to go, though whether there are any good herps around at that time of year I don't know.

Also depends greatly on how far from darwin you want to travel. Fogg dam, litchfield national park, nourlangie rock, adelaide river floodplain, those were all good night cruises in the warmer months, I know of a few spots for specifics too but doubtful you'll be seeing those at that time of year.

It's a cool place up there, you'll have a blast.

 

[Darlyn]

The Territory Wildlife Park has some nocturnal stuff happening so you could look at that for your nephew.
Go for a walk in Botanic Gardens in the evening. As Jedi said all those spots are good. Don't worry about the cage dive go for a swim in the Mary river much more exciting.


*Disclaimer that last bit is a joke, only swim there if you can swim really, really fast : )

 

[phatty]

Fog dam douglas hot springs any where.in litchfeild kakadu howard springs there is alot of bush tracks
Daly river is good to see crocs and also shady camp shady has alot of crocs

 

[Melzey]

*Disclaimer that last bit is a joke, only swim there if you can swim really, really fast : )

Haha, and can see underwater.

I went in summer, but there were geckos everywhere, I wanted to get one of the cute little guys to snuggle into my bag and come home with me

 

[Radar]

Litchfield was top of my list for the easily accessible stuff, to be honest fogg dam was a total disappointment and letdown, it seemed like every herper in Australia was there, just a constant procession of cars across the dam wall, I'm amazed any snakes are brave enough to cross it. We went for a walk on one of the tracks in the area to kill some time and found a couple of small snakes but to be totally honest I wouldn't go out of my way to do it, your resources could be betterSspent elsewhere.

 

[MarcAtterton]

Thanks for the replies guys,, got some ideas on where to go and hopefully will have a good trip,, cheers

 

[Nephrurus]

People drive across Fogg dam? It's a good walk and you see HEAPS! Walk across in the late afternoon, watch the sunset with all the water birds, then walk back across just after dark.

Barking Owls, Barn Owls, Crocs, Waterrats, Keelbacks, Tata lizards, Chelodina rugosa, Water Pythons, Slaty Grey Snakes, Common tree snakes, Litoria dahli, L. bicolor, L. inermis etc etc etc etc

-H

 

[Radar]

At the time we were there getting out of your car on the wall was forbidden due to the presence of a large croc. Despite spending a few hours there in the arvo and later that night, we honestly found less then on our road cruises around Kakadu, Litchfield, Gregory, Katherine etc. It could well just have been our timing but to be honest I wouldn't bother again. 10 years ago and further back it was no doubt a mecca.

 

[SteveNT]

People drive across Fogg dam? It's a good walk and you see HEAPS! Walk across in the late afternoon, watch the sunset with all the water birds, then walk back across just after dark.

You're not allowed to walk across it anymore. Too many big salties stalking the tourists. So just a slow drive but as stated every man and his dog is out there (especially June/ July -peak tourist season). There are a couple of platform walks there too. The one on the left from the car park is good for McLeays in the Barringtonia forest.

Would also reccommend Dorat Rd out of Adelaide River or the Marakai track at night.