AUSTRALIA TRIP REPORT PAGE 3 of 7
Dates: September 18-28, 2004
Location: Central-Eastern Queensland, Australia
September 21, 2004
Today was our first “walk-about” day of the trip. We decided to visit two national parks that were within driving distance, Mt. Walsh National Park and Goodnight Scrub National Park. It was about a two hour drive on back roads to reach Mt. Walsh, a very large granite dome that pops up out of nowhere. The area is used mostly by climbers and as was the theme in all of the parks other than Fraser Island, we were totally alone! We literally didn’t see one person in either park this day however I should tell you that in the area we were in at least the parks aren’t as they are in the US. First, you really need a good map because there aren’t any signs indicating where they are and second, the majority of them are accessible by dirt road only. You realize that you are there when you see a sign similar to this one:
Here’s Mt. Walsh:
We hiked around for an hour or so without much luck in terms of herps, did see a few cool birds like my first Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, some Laughing Kookaburra’s, Cuckoo’s, etc. but nary a herp in sight. So, off we went to Goodnight Scrub National Park. This one was even harder to find than the first one, it was a good 20 miles of dirt road to reach it but the feeling of isolation and also the scenery were fantastic and the animal life was much better over here.
Right at the turn-off to the dirt road that leads to the park I spotted a very large snake crossing the road. There were cars coming in both directions and there was very little shoulder so I had to pull ahead of the snake, it was easy to identify due to its size and coloration, my first Elapid! A huge Red-bellied Black Snake, it was easily 5’ long and as big around as my forearm, however it wanted nothing to do with me or the cars coming by, it got about 2 feet on the roadway and turned around and took off at full speed into some cane. I made a mental note that it kind of flopped as it moved sort of like some of the Cottonmouth’s I had seen in Texas earlier this year. I wasn’t able to get a shot of it unfortunately and although I gave a half-hearted attempt to find it in the cane field I really didn’t want to plow around with zero visibility and try to scare it up so after cussing myself a little but for not being quicker we were back on our way.
About three miles down the road it crossed a river:
These guys were around the area:
Eastern Water Dragon - Physignathus lesuerii
They didn’t seem to be very concerned with my presence albeit they too had a safety zone that you dared not cross. As soon as you got about 2-3 arm-lengths away, they were gone! But as long as you stayed your distance you could observe them all you wanted. This area had some great birds as well, we explored it for quite some time before continuing on.
Next herp was this little dragon which I found on the side of the road:
Eastern Two-lined Dragon - Diporiphora australis
As we continued on the terrain got a little more hilly and then started turning into more forest, here’s another habitat shot:
Which of course as I was to find out means that you are entering the land of the Lace Monitor... We saw three of them this day all three were on the road and I heard several others, they make quite a racket as they are scrambling through the leaf litter and up their favorite tree. Here’s one on the road:
Lace Monitor - Varanus varius
And a little closer in:
Lace Monitor - Varanus varius
We hiked around quite a bit and again heard more than we saw in terms of small fauna. There were quite a few skinks in the area but they are extremely well camouflaged and hard to see in the scattered sunlight that creeps through the forested area canopies. I did manage to snag several pictures of this guy, a medium sized skink that was sunning itself as I approached:
Started heading back toward base around 4:00 PM as it started to cool off and the sun was setting quickly, all in all not a bad day.
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- Thanks! - Brad Weinert -
