Days 16 & 17: Kakadu

On our way from Mt Isa we stopped at Elsey National Park. I had wanted to find some water monitors (both Mertens’ and Mitchell’s water monitors are known from the area), but had no luck on this front. We did manage to find some frogs and some skinks.

Varanus mertensi & Varanus mitchelli habitat (supposedly).

Litoria meiriana

Carlia munda

The toilet had a very large redback spider in it. The outdoor dunny with a redback in it is so typically Australian, I had to photograph it. I’m sure I looked quite suspicious going into the toilet with my camera.

Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) found in a toilet. There’s a small male mating with the much larger female. I went back a short time later to see if he’d been eaten, but he managed to escape and was a short distance away.

A very large female redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) in a toilet.

The local swimming hole had a very obvious crocodile trap in it. Despite the oppressive heat and humidity, I stayed out of the water.

This crocodile trap was in the local swimming hole. Needless to say, I didn’t go swimming.

The sign at the southern entrance to Kakadu National Park.

We made it up to Kakadu by late afternoon. We had a poke around in the southern end of the park and found some Carlia amax. Despite the fact that the Carlia were all over the place, I apparently didn’t get a single photo of one.

CARLIA AMAX

That night we drove along the main road. It was raining lightly (we were there at the start of the wet season), and the frogs were out in force. I thought the rain might keep the reptiles away, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. We saw a number of keelbacks (Tropidonophis mairii) and Children’s pythons (Antaresia childreni) on or near the road.

Children’s python (Antaresia childreni).

Children’s python (Antaresia childreni).

Keelback (Tropidonophis mairi).

Ornate burrowing frog (Opisthodon ornatus).

Watjulum frog (Litoria watjulumensis).

Uperoleia lithomoda

Northern dwarf tree frog (Litoria bicolor).

Roth’s tree frog (Litoria rothii).

Marbled frog (Limnodynastes convexiusculus).

Woodworker frog (Limnodynastes lignarius).

The next morning we drove up to the northern end of the park (which took a fair while – it’s a BIG park!). We wanted to have a poke around Nourlangie Rock. We saw a frilled dragon dash off the road and up a nearby tree. We walked around the Nourlangie Rock track, stopping to look at the rock art and some small lizards.

Frilled dragon (Chlamydosaurus kingii).

Frilled dragon (Chlamydosaurus kingii) habitat.

Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu. Habitat of Oenpelli pythons (Morelia oenpelliensis), giant cave geckos (Pseudothecadactylus lindneri), Heteronotia planiceps, Gehyra australis, Gehyra pamela, Boiga irregularis.

Rock art.

Rock art.

Rock art.

Unknown Ctenotus (probably Ctentotus spaldingi).

Unknown Ctenotus (probably Ctentotus spaldingi).

Driving around during the day we checked out any waterbodies we came across, in the hope of seeing a Mertens’ water monitor (Varanus mertensi). We did manage to see a swimming goanna in a drainage ditch, but but the time we stopped and got out of the car, the goanna had disappeared down a burrow under a clump of vegetation. We poked around this ditch for a few minutes, but only managed to see thousands upon thousands of cane toad tadpoles.

Mertens’ water monitor (Varanus mertensi) habitat.

Far too many cane toad tadpoles (Bufo marinus).

That night we walked around a rock outcrop. We found a number of frogs, geckos and one brown tree snake.

A brilliant picture of a brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis).

Gehyra pamela.

Heteronotia planiceps.

Gehyra australis.

Driving back to our accommodation, we encountered a number of animals on or near the road.

Western brown snake (Pseudonaja nuchalis).

Water python (Liasis mackloti).

Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis).

Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis).

The next day we packed up and headed to Fogg Dam.