# Photos from a trip to the Red Centre



## moloch (Jan 13, 2013)

Over the Christmas break, I had the opportunity to make a quick trip to the Red Centre.  It is a place that I've wanted to see for many years but never could find the time to get out there.  Australia is a big place and the drive to the middle of the continent is a big one from the east coast.  I left early on a Sunday morning from Melbourne and returned to Wollongong on the following Saturday.  All up, I drove slightly less than 7,000 km in 7 days so I spent a fair bit of time watching the outback flash by my windscreen.

This year has been a hot one in Australia.  I missed the worst of the heat but still experienced temps as high as 44C (111F).  Unfortunately, the summer wet had not commenced and the area was very dry.  Reptile activity was subdued and I encountered far fewer species/individuals than I had hoped for and much less than others have reported at the same time last year.  Still, it was great to see the areas and I know several places now that I will be happy to re-examine some year after summer rains.

I will include a number of habitat shots in this post that hopefully give you an idea of what a trip to the centre would be like.

I left Melbourne at about 4:30 am.  By noon, I passed through the Ngarkat Conservation Park in South Australia.  This area was burned a few years ago but plant regeneration was underway.






It was quite warm when I took a short break and walk in the park.  Eventually, I found a few Mallee Military Dragon (_Ctenophorus fordi_).  The little dragons were hard to see in areas with litter.  Their disruptive colour pattern works well.












After stretching and taking a few photos, it was back in the car for another 12 hours.  I eventually stopped for the night at a roadside rest near Glendambo.  Fuel stations were far apart in this area and most were only open until 8pm.  That made it a little awkward to travel at night.  

I did a little night driving in the Glendambo area and eventually found two geckos.  The night was quite even though the temps were warm.

Beaded Gecko (_Lucasium damaeum_).  This was a nicely marked gecko and only the second that I've ever encountered.  I think that they are common but their distribution is mainly in southern Australia and I rarely travel in this part of the continent.  This one held its tail high when running on the road.  It had dropped a little when I took this shot.












The second gecko was a Fat-tailed Gecko (_Diplodactylus conspicillatus_), a wide-ranging species.  These little geckos will partially inflate their throats and then flutter this like an amphibian.

















I refueled as soon as the station opened the following morning then continued with the drive north.  I liked the following sign, only 300km more to the "corner store".  







Before long, I passed through Coober Pedy, one of the big opal fields in Australia.  The climate here was hostile and many people live underground to escape the extreme conditions.  It was an aesthetically-challenged area as was most of the northern half of South Australia.







This shot was of typical habitat in northern South Australia.  I stopped briefly since this area is the home of two dragons that I have not yet seen, Gibber Dragon (_Ctenophorus gibba_) and Ochre Dragon (_Ctenophorus tjantjalka_).  The crumbling hills looked perfect for the latter but I did not see either of my targets.  It may have been too hot for these to be in the open.











Eventually, I did see a single lizard, one of the widely distributed Eyrean Earless Dragons (_Tympanocryptis tetraporiphora_).  These are heat tolerant lizards and will often stand dinosaur-like on the top of a rock even when it is hot.  This one, however, was disturbed by my presence and attempted to hide.






Further on, I saw a single Central Netted Dragon (_Ctenophorus nuchalis_) that tried to hide when I stopped the car.







Even though it was dry, there were a few flowering plants.

Mulla Mulla (_Ptilotus sp_.), a member of Amaranthaceae






_Solanum sp._






a composite:







The habitat improved a little near the Northern Territory border.  I stopped and searched a few trees for lizards but did not find any reptiles.






I did see a group of six of these beautiful Mulga Parrots.  I often see this species in the interior but they are not usually cooperative for photos.












Wedge-tailed Eagles were, as always, common along the way.  They feast on road-killed kangaroos and all to often end up as road-kills themselves.  This one appeared to have a problem and was missing feathers from its head.  It looked almost vulture-like.







Finally, in the late afternoon, I arrived at the West MacDonnell Ranges NP.  I found a nice place to camp and set up the tent.






... view from my campsite:







The rocky hills were beautiful.  I especially enjoyed the scenic Ormiston Gorge with its red rocks, yellow spinifex and white-barked Ghost Gums.  Here a few photos of the area.






















That night, I went driving along these hills ...







... and found two of these gorgeous creatures.  Desert Death Adders (_Acanthophis pyrrhus_) are one of the most brightly coloured of the Aussie elapids.  I found a small juvenile and a large adult.  I love their defensive display when the flatten their bodies and flash the yellow bands.

juvenile:

















adult:



























The next night, I found this little Unbanded Shovel-nosed Snake (_Brachyurophis incinctus_).  It was lucky to have survived the night.  I spotted this little snake at the same time that a 4x4 approached at high speed.  I could do nothing but pull off and hope for the best.  Somehow, the tires missed the snake and it lived to eat more gecko eggs.






















I found two Orange-naped Snakes (_Furina ornata_).  These little elapids never stop moving so I just took a quick record snap and continued on.







Other nocturnals included several Prickly Geckos (_Heteronotia binoei_), a widespread species.







... and, depending upon your taxonomics,  the equally widespread Tree Dtella (_Gehyra variegata_):












Also seen were several Fat-tailed Geckos (_Diplodactylus conspicillatus_):







One of my targets in this area was the Centralian Knob-tailed Gecko (_Nephrurus amyae_), the most massive of the Aussie geckos.  I did not see any on the road so decided to walk up into the hills.  I followed a trail into this area:











This proved to be productive and during the walk, I found two juvenile knob-tails that literally jumped onto the trail in front of me.  Unfortunately, I did not see a big adult but these kids were nice to see.

... gecko 1.  As expected, they were good albeit careful rock climbers.





















gecko 2:






















Another interesting sighting was a pygopodid in the top of a spinifex.  At first, I could not see the head so was not certain of the species.  Eventually it lifted its head and I could see the pointed snout of a Burton's Snake-Lizard (_Lialis burtonis_).  More interesting though, was what it was holding.  It had just captured the smallest of the Aussie geckos, a Clawless Gecko (_Crenadactylus ocellatus_).  I have only ever seen the rock-inhabiting race from the west coast.  This race in the centre looked very different with its striped pattern.  The Burton's chewed on the head of the gecko for several minutes before quickly swallowing it.  Here is a sequence of photos of the event:



























A surprise to me was spotting a few of these Desert Cave Geckos (_Heteronotea spelea_).  I thought that they were restricted to the Pilbara of WA but found out after my return that their known range was expanded recently and includes the red centre.







By day, I saw few lizards.  I think that this was the first time in the interior when I did not see any _Ctenotus_ skinks at all.  The most common lizard seemed to be the Long-nosed Dragon (_Amphibolurus longirostris_).  "Elegant Dragon" would be a more suitable name for these lovely lizards.  This one shimmied up the smooth bark of a young Ghost Gum like someone climbing a coconut palm.  Once high enough, it sprang out to side branches where it could move more normally.












Also found one evening was the female Gilbert's Dragon (_Amphibolurus gilberti_).







This Dingo completely ignored me.  It acted like a dog on a mission in the suburbs as it trotted down the road.







Here are more photos of the habitats of the West MacDonnells.  It really was a lovely area.



















Mt. Sonders, the high point along the Larapinta Track through the West MacDonnells.







One of our native Coral Bean Trees (Erythrina vesptilio)



















Mistletoe:  I saw a small honeyeater here but none of the beautiful Azure butterflies that I had hoped to find.












A native hibiscus (_Hibiscus sturtii_):







_Solanum sp_.












... more later

Reactions: Like 4


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## tarcan (Jan 13, 2013)

another great series, thanks for sharing! Great shots and lovely scenery!


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## Wadew (Jan 13, 2013)

Very nice of you to put the pictures up for us to enjoy! An extreme environment with some fascinating critters and landscape.


                                     Thank you
                                        Wade


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## moloch (Jan 14, 2013)

Thanks, Tarcan and Wade.


I made a brief stop at Uluru on the return journey.  The famous rock was certainly an impressive sight:

... late afternoon:






... sunset:







The national park was closed at night so I drove and walked in what looked like good areas near Yulara.  I found absolutely nothing at all.  It seemed strange since the habitat looked good.  I suppose that this was due to the dry conditions.


The next morning, I got up early and drove to the Olgas.













I did not see a single reptile.  The only reptile sign that I found in the area was outside the park.  I think that these were the tracks of a sand-swimming _Lerista_:







Mt. Conner, a mesa along the drive from the Stuart Highway to Uluru:







A nice white-flowered Grevillea near Kulgera on the _Stuart Highway_:







I drove back into South Australia and stayed a little north of Port Augusta.  The highway passed a number of dry, salt lakes like this:







The next day, I visited the interesting Australian Arid Lands Botanical Gardens.  






The place was rich with chenopods and a number of genera that would be familiar to people in the southwest of the US such as Mesembryathemum, Amaranthus, Atriplex, Chenopodium, Crassula, Euphorbia and Erodium.












Once again, I struggled to see even a single herp. 


My final stop was a night in the Gundabooka area between Cobar and Bourke.  This area has produced some interesting herps over the years.  I saw a huge Mulga Snake (_Pseudechis australis_) but it powered off the road before I could get photos.  

Other reptiles included this Eastern Hooded Scaly-foot (_Pygopus schraderi_):

















Box-patterned Gecko (_Lucasium steindachneri_):

















Little Corellas at a water hole:












Red-rumped Parrot;







I was happy to see these new areas but next time, I won't travel that far unless there has been summer rains.  I think that I saw less than 50 reptiles during the week of driving.


Regards,
David


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## MarkmD (Jan 14, 2013)

Really nice pics.


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## Shrike (Jan 14, 2013)

Great pictures.  Thanks for allowing us to live vicariously!


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## oldmanofthesea (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks for sharing tour trip. Awesome photos! Ron


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## Kungfujoe (Jan 18, 2013)

what an awesome trip..


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