Last December I was dragged out to Cracow to help Jonno Lucas from Educational Reptile Displays with a venomous snake handling course for the Cracow Gold Mine. We stayed at the Cracow Pub, owned by Fred Brophy.

A green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) found in a post out the back of the Cracow Pub.

The first night we went out driving was quite unproductive. We drove about 120km in the first night, only managing to find one spotted python (Antaresia maculosa) about 1km out of town.

A spotted python (Antaresia maculosa) that was spotted on the road.

As there was nothing much on the road we went to the local tip to have a poke around. We found a Bynoe’s gecko (Heteronotia binoei) and some frogs.

Stoney creek frog (Litoria wilcoxi) found near a creek.

Spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) found at the local dump.

We went back to the pub, where Jonno found a Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis) at the back stairs.

Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis) found at the back stairs of the Cracow Pub.

Close up of a Burton’s legless lizard’s head.

We conducted the course during the day, and went critter hunting at night. We both wanted to find rough-throated leaf-tailed geckos (Saltuarius salebrosus), so we were keeping our eyes out for suitable habitat.

We saw a rocky outcrop just over the road from the mine site. We thought it looked like good gecko habitat. We were right.

Rough-throated leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius salebrosus). Their very effective camouflage makes photographing them quite difficult.

Rough-throated leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius salebrosus). They wave their tails when they feel threatened. Like all geckos, they can drop, and subsequently regrow, their tail.

Rough-throated leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius salebrosus). He’s licking the eye on the other side of his head.

Front view of a rough-throated leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius salebrosus).

The effective camouflage of leaf-tailed geckos (Saltuarius spp.) makes photographing them quite difficult. It also makes seeing them quite difficult. Luckily I had Jonno and his eagle eyes with me. We (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘Jonno’) found five leaf tails on a single rock face.

A thick-tailed gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii) found on a rocky outcrop.

On our last night we went out driving again.

A pink-tongued skink (Cyclodomorphus gerrardii) we found in a very dry area. Pink tongues are normally found in moist environments. Obviously no one told this guy that…

We then stopped at a bridge to have a look on the wooden structure. We found a couple of geckos.

Dubious dtella (Gehyra dubia)

Dubious dtella (Gehyra dubia) found on a wooden bridge.

Southern spotted velvet gecko (Oedura tryoni) found running around on a wooden bridge.

We packed up on Saturday and drove back to Brisbane. I’ve decided that I’m going to get a job in a mine. Workers get free, unlimited food. Including ice cream. Unlimited ice cream. I was in heaven.

This entry was posted on Sunday February 8th, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Animal photos, In the field. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.