A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

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Azemiops
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A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Azemiops »

Unfortunately, we're coming close to the end of our year long trip to Australia. A quick run-down of how we spent our time – we started off with five and a half months in Brisbane, Queensland, during which time we made two trips out west, driving 1,500km from Brisbane to Windorah to look (unsuccessfully) for Inland taipans, Oxyuranus microlepidotus. Although not successful in finding our target species, we did encounter a huge variety of other interesting herps. After our time in Brisbane, we spent two weeks driving north, as far as Cooktown, before driving back down to Cairns to spend Xmas and new years. We then flew to Sydney, got the train to Melbourne and drove to Adelaide, spending around a week at each city. After this, we flew to Perth where we spent four months living and working, making a few trips over to Rottnest Island and one trip north to the Pilbara region and Cape Range National Park. Over the last week, we have just flown into Alice Springs, drove out to the giant rock they call Uluru, and then spent three days driving the 1,500km north to Darwin, stopping off at Katherine Gorge N.P and Litchfield N.P on the way. So, that's a basic run through of how we have just spent the last year!

Although many of these photos may have been shared on the forum already in various threads, I thought I'd post some of the herping highlights of the trip for me. I'm sure you will notice my preference towards snakes, but there will be a few other critters chucked in here as well. These will mostly be posted in the chronological order.

First up, it has to the be the first snake of the trip, a red-bellied black snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus, Although this species proved to be very common, particularly around SE Queensland, the first snake of any trip is always a major highlight. This particular one was found under a piece of tin in Purga, Qld, July 2011. A bad photo, but I didn't have the time to photograph it properly.

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A few more photos of other red-bellies we found on the trip

Dalby, Queensland

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Cairns, Queensland – lacking the red belly.

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A huge highlight of the trip also happened at the same time of one of the worst things that happened on the trip. Anyone living in SE Queensland will know how special (and difficult) it is to find a Queensland tiger snake. I was put on to a spot by a mate, and on our first trip up to the area, I was lucky enough to find a big female crossing the road mid-morning. I literally cannot explain the excitement I felt after finding this snake. The downfall? I left my camera bag on the side of the road and drove off, only to realise an hour later. Everything was in that that bag – my Canon 7D, all my lenses, flash-unit etc. We returned, but of course, the camera bag had gone and never got handed in to the police. That certainly soured the days events.

The Queensland tiger snake, Notechis scutatus. This poor-quality image was taken on a little compact camera. I wasn't lucky enough to find another after replacing my camera gear.

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There's a nice patch of rainforest just outside Brisbane city that we frequented for night-time road cruising. Due to the time of year that we were there, the pickings were slim thanks to cold evenings, but we would occasionally find something special. What I was really after was a common death adder, Acanthophis antarcticus, but we didn't manage to find one. After many long drives, we did however finally find number two on my wish list for the area, an adult Stephen's banded snake, Hoplocephalus stephensii. Not the prettiest example, but a great find none the less!

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Some more highlights from this area:

Bandy bandys, Vermicella annulata – I've only seen two since being in Australia, and they were found within five minutes of each other.

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Juvenile eastern carpet python. Very common but also very attractive.

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Not a herp, but amazing to see - Short-beaked echinda, Tachyglossus aculeatus

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My first trip out to south west Queensland in September 2011, to look for Inland taipans, yielded very few snakes. We did, however, find one of the most iconic lizards of Australia – Perentie! We found this girl on top of a mesa about 60km west of Windorah. Easily the best lizard I have ever found in the wild – I'd go as far as saying that this was even better than seeing Komodo dragons on Komodo Island back in 2007.

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Our second trip out to south west Queensland in November 2011 had much better results with snakes. We spent 10 days driving out to Windorah and back, spending a lot of the in the Brigalow Belt region of Queensland.

One of the best finds of this trip was this western brown snake, Pseudonaja mengdeni. Western browns aren't rare by any standards, but after driving past this snake at 130km/h we were very lucky that we got to see it again. This was found just past Quilpie.

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A very common lizard at this way, the yellow spotted goanna, Varanus panoptes panoptes. I'm only really including this one because I like the shot.

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And another highlight from this particular trip – Kings browns, Pseudechis australis, and lots of them. We found plenty cruising the roads at night time, both dead and alive. This particular locality are the brick red ones.

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One of the few amphibians that I was particular keen to see during my time in Australia the the holy-cross toad, Notaden bennettii. We got a few during one nights road cruise.

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Spotted blacksnake, Pseudechis guttatus, found towards the end of the trip.

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After time in Brisbane, we drove north to Cooktown, finding plenty along the way. One of the highlights of this section of the trip were the many scrub pythons we came across. We got these at pretty much every location we stayed at north of Townsville, ranging from 4-9ft in length.

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Whilst hanging around in Cairns over Xmas and new years, we managed to find two species that I was very keen to find.

I was given a location by a friend that is known to be a good spot for northern death adders, Acanthophis praelongus. This is a blocked off road, so you have to head out road-cruising on foot – quite a daunting task when you want to cover as much ground as possible. I didn't have to worry though – just 100 metres down the road and we found this beauty -

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A few days later, whilst out during the day, we came across another iconic Aussie reptile, and a first for me. The frilled dragon, Chlamydosaurus kingii.

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After leaving Cairns and flying to Sydney, we did quick tours of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. I got chance to meet up with a few herpers in the Sydney region, managing to tick off the highlands copperhead, Austrelaps ramsayi, amongst other species:

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Melbourne and Adelaide provided nothing more than a red-bellied blacksnake and a blue-tongued skink (mainly due to lack of herping), however, another major highlight happened in Adelaide in the form of a captive animal. I was given the opportunity to see the only pair of central ranges taipans, Oxyuranus temporalis, in captivity – currently housed off-show at Adelaide zoo.

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So, from Adelaide, we flew to Perth, Western Australia, where we would be setting up home for the next four months.

Perth is well known to be a tiger snake hotspot, and in the first couple of days I managed to find my first few. This would lead on to finding 100+ over the next four months thanks to some regular trips down to a local spot.

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A very common lizard, but one that was proving very elusive for me, was the shingleback, Tiliqua rugosa. I've only found one live one in the whole year we have been out here, so for that reason alone, it was a highlight.

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Whilst in Perth, we also made two trips over to Rottnest Island, known for its dwarf subspecies of the Dugite, Pseudonaja affinis exilis. It was on the second trip that we managed to find one

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And a juvenile mainland dugite, Pseudonaja affinis affinis

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Right at the end of our time in Perth, which is just coming up to a couple of weeks ago, we made a trip up to the Pilbara region on WA. This was to be a very short trip, with just four days in total to cover both the Pilbara and Cape Range N.P. We headed straight up to a good spot and spent two days there, mainly hitting the roads at night.

Our target species was the Pilbara death adder, Acanthophis wellsi, and despite a bit of cool weather, the area didn't dissapoint. We got several species, but these were the best for me:

Black-headed Pilbara death adder, Acanthophis wellsi

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Pale Pilbara death adder

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And some juveniles

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And a stunning little king brown, Pseudechis australis

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An awesome little gecko, Strophurus ciliaris, we found at Cape Range N.P.

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We've only just arrived in Darwin from Alice springs, and haven't found much to write home about thanks to some freezing (literally) weather. We've still got enough time to tick off some more species, so if anything interesting comes about, i'll be sure to post about it.

I'll leave you with a picture of Uluru.

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Thanks,

Tom
Reptiluvr
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Reptiluvr »

I'm pretty ignorant on my Aussie elapids but it looks like some great highlights. The two Perentie pics are awesome! I really like the Strophurus ciliarius too. What lens did you use for the Shingleback photo? I suppose you haven't found the epic Moloch horridus yet? One of the coolest lizard in the world to me.
bryceman
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by bryceman »

amazing aussie post!!! I really enjoy your photography style. That last gecko is insane looking with those spikes over the eyes and down the tail. Really enjoyed it all! Congrats on all your cool finds!
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Rags
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Rags »

Enjoyable photos and narrative, thanks for posting.

That red coloured King Brown really stood out for me and also the Perentie shots.

Sorry to hear about your camera gear - hope the insurance covered it.

Australia is an amazing place and it sounds as if you have had a life changing trip. We were lucky enough to go back in 2002 but could only manage 27 days. Our time was split between Brisbane and Melbourne, both great cities. I remember that feeling of waking up in the mornings almost unable to believe I was actually in Australia. Your photos have stoked a desire to return. Thanks again.

Rags.
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Great post. The first red bellied black and the king brown are stunning.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Jiminy Cricket....some of your photos look positively three-dimensional!!! Awesome, awesome photography.
tai haku
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by tai haku »

Azemiops wrote:Not a herp, but amazing to see - Short-beaked echinda, Tachyglossus aculeatus

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Well it lays eggs and has a venom gland so I reckon that makes it close enough to most of the cool stuff on here to allow us to give it honorary herp status!

Really cool post more generally, you saw some awesome stuff!
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Neil M
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Neil M »

Wow absolutely fantastic trip! The variety of snakes in this post is awesome. I know they were common but I love those carpet pythons! Congrats on the Perentie and all the other target species you found!
-Neil
sonorandesertman
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by sonorandesertman »

Ridiculous beauty and amazing photography work. Thank you very much!
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Norman D
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Norman D »

Great job! The death adders are very cool!
SnakeDude
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by SnakeDude »

dude, AMAZING pics! btw i nominated your shingleback pic for picture of the week :thumb:

sweet shots ;)

-Ian
jgjulander
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by jgjulander »

Great post, Tom! I would agree that finding a perentie would be the ultimate. I have yet to reach that goal. Struck out after a few weeks in Alice Springs, but it was a little rainy. Just means I have to go back.
Justin
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Azemiops
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Azemiops »

Thanks very much for all the compliments guys, much appreciated.
Reptiluvr wrote:What lens did you use for the Shingleback photo? I suppose you haven't found the epic Moloch horridus yet?
The lens was a 10-20mm Sigma wide-angle. Unfortunately no thorny-devils - its been far too cold when we have been within their distribution. Hopefully next time....

Thanks,

Tom
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Mike VanValen
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Mike VanValen »

Wow, that was exhausting. Really superb post. Does every Bandy-bandy do the standing loop???
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MaartenSFS
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by MaartenSFS »

Amazing photography. I can only see about a quarter of them at the moment. Foreign websites are really slow at the moment for whatever reason. Hopefully I'll be able to see the rest at some point.

EDIT: Just saw the rest of them. I really like that some of the Australian elapids also hood up a bit. Very cool.
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DaveR
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by DaveR »

Great post Tom. Too bad about losing your gear...but it looks like you had an awesome trip . 100+ tigers...sheesh! Loved the king brown. Any other pythons besides scrubs and carpets?? I love aussie pythons. Thanks.
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TNWJackson
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by TNWJackson »

Lovely series of photos Tom!
Mattsnake
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Mattsnake »

Great post Tom! You'll have to come back again soon to tick of the species you missed out on! :P
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by mikemike »

Great post, Tom.
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Azemiops
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Re: A year in Australia - some of the highlights.

Post by Azemiops »

Thanks very much again guys,
DaveR wrote:Great post Tom. Too bad about losing your gear...but it looks like you had an awesome trip . 100+ tigers...sheesh! Loved the king brown. Any other pythons besides scrubs and carpets?? I love aussie pythons. Thanks.
We also found spotted pythons, stimpsons pythons, water pythons, DOR olives and one DOR black-headed. The black-headed python was particularly heart-breaking!
Mattsnake wrote:Great post Tom! You'll have to come back again soon to tick of the species you missed out on! :P
Thanks Matt, would be great to catch up with you guys next time i'm over. We'll have to try and organise a trip somewhere.

cheers,

Tom
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