Lizard is the New Croc!

  Bungle Bungles, Australia
Monday, September 29, 2008

Lizard basking on rock - look hard!

Ready to slide into the water, Edith Falls

First it was kangaroos, then koalas, and then I got obsessed with wombats.  I couldn't help but get into crocs in the north, but this week lizards are definitely where it's at.  There are so many of them, in so many patterns and sizes, scurrying out of sight in loo blocks, basking on rocks in the sun, cooling off in pools and crossing the road in front of us as we drive.  Their camouflaging is excellent so it can be tricky to pick them out and even harder to photograph them, as they blend into their background.  But I couldn't resist posting some of the pics I did manage to get!  
 

Check out that blue tongue!

The blue-tongued lizard is my favourite, and not just because a brand of beer is named after it, but because its darting blue tongue is such a contrast to its greeny-yellowy skin.  John spotted the one captured here on film, ambling across the dusty road as we were leaving Keep River N.P., luckily for Mr Lizard, who would have been splattered, but for Riley's eagle eyes.  Look closely for the tongue!   
 

Curled tail on water monitor, Buley

We also think we saw one of the fabulous but elusive  'frilled neck lizards',  standing upright, as they do, on the track's edge in the Bungles, but decided it was a piece of wood - and then it moved!  But by the time we had returned to the spot he was long gone.  Having seen a  frilly running with his collar flared, on film, and seen a stuffed one in a museum, looking as if he was doing the Haka, I am eager to catch sight of a real one... the search continues!
 

Perched to jump

Oh, and the green ones, of course are frogs, not lizards!   But how cute are they? I was concerned about spiders lurking at night in the simple pit toilet buildings in the national parks, so was delighted at Keep River, to meet no arachnids, but six green tree frogs instead, some hopping up the walls, some hanging out in the wee bucket of water beside the loo.  I did get a shock, though, when one of them either mistook my leg for a tree branch, or lost his balance on the edge of the bucket, and landed on my leg!