North Queensland Winter 2022 (Part 2)
Cooktown to Townsville via the Uplands (24th to the 28th of June)
Day 4
After a night spent in the fetal position to avoid wet toes, my mood had not improved. But on the plus side, the clouds had mostly disappeared and we wasted no time heading into some nearby sandstone. Leaving my swag mattress unrolled on the roof rack to hopefully dry we began to search. It didn’t take long to find several of the rock Freckled Monitors (Varanus tristis), with the Cooktown ones having lovely yellow heads and being seemingly abundant. Our actual targets remained elusive as we moved onto our second ridge. I was in particular hoping for a Quinkan Ctenotus (Ctenotus quinkan) but after several hours of seeing nothing but Cooktown Ctenotus (Ctenotus nullum) my hopes were dropping. Nick came up with the goods though, and I rushed over following his radio call. Quinkans are large, sleek and colourful, everything I’d been looking forward to.
With one target down we headed for a swim and more flipping. Despite a solid effort over most of the day, our other skink targets continued to evade us, a little puzzling in the case of the Cape York Mulch-skink (Glaphyromorphus crassicaudus). I did manage to catch a second lightning fast Quinkan, which appropriately shot off as soon as I tried for a photo. Still, one target was better than none and after a refreshing swim and finding my swag to be relatively dry I was in a good mood as we headed back to Cooktown on our roundabout way up to Laura. We spent much of the rest of the afternoon and early night driving all the way up to Kimba Plateau. Fingers were crossed for a burrowing snake of some kind on the way but a single, fat Burton’s (Lialis burtonis) was all we found on the way in. Not ones to go straight to bed we had a quick rake around on arrival, but only found the usual culprits including Bynoe’s Geckos (Heteronotia binoei), Robust Rainbow Skinks (Carlia schmeltzii) and a large Black-striped Snake (Cryptophis nigrostriatus).
Day 5
We were of course in the area for a Lerista, the relatively newly described Olkola Slider (Lerista anyara). We’d had a brief look the year before but were determined to give it a proper crack this time around and so we set off to find the sandiest possible areas. Our first stop didn’t deliver much for a while, until Nick found two North-eastern Orange-tailed Sliders (Lerista zonulata), with the general area being the furthest north the species has been recorded. Moving onto another spot, we sweated it out for another hour as the temperature climbed. Despite it being seemingly good habitat we struggled to find much of anything. With the day inching by, Nick once again proved to be our rake master, with the distant screaming of “Got one! Got one! Got one!” being a big relief. We all crowded around for a look at the large and perfect one he’d found at the base of the tree, although in shed it was a good looking lizard. It was also one of our best herping achievements to date, being a roughly 20km range extension and good evidence that the species was probably found over much of the plateau and not just the northern tip where it was previously known from. Enjoying our find and the relief, we hung around for another half an hour, taking photos and also hoping to turn up another not in shed, but to no avail. Still buzzing with the find, we turned tail and shot southwards.
We had to celebrate with nuggets, so the first stop was Mareeba for some feral maccas and other supplies we needed. Finding the Lerista and driving southwards had taken up most of the day and darkness was falling as we continued south-west into the Einasleigh Uplands. We had no real targets planned for the night and merely wanted to get as far west as possible before calling it. We did make one quick detour to where we’d previously seen the Limbless Fine-lined Slider (Lerista ameles) last year to see what we could find. No Lerista decided to show itself but while walking around the rock I came across an active Bandy Bandy (Vermicella annulata) which was a little unexpected. Slightly more predictable species in Bynoe’s Geckos (Heteronotia binoei) and Slender Mulch-skinks (Glaphyromorphus cracens) were also found before we ended up camping nearby.
Day 6
With our success the day before, I was feeling confident as we headed for the only Lerista we’d properly missed on our last circuit, the Bulleringa Fine-lined Slider (Lerista alia). That confidence wavered slightly when we got to the spot, finding the habitat a little different to search than what we were used to, but after deciding leaf litter among rocks had to be key we fanned out. 20 or so minutes later and Justin had the goods, a tiny but immaculate juvenile. While we waited for photos I made a quick inspection of the rock behind me, spying almost immediately the spiny tail of one of our other major targets, an eastern Hosmer’s Skink (Egernia hosmeri). Despite being easily seen in the western part of its range, individuals from the east are only rarely sighted. Unfortunately it wasn’t keen on coming out for photos so we spread out amongst the rocks to find more. Nick found another pair in a crevice which also weren’t keen on budging, but while searching we managed to find a handful of other nice species. Several Northern Spotted Velvet Geckos (Oedura coggeri), Amber Rock Dtellas (Gehyra electrum). On a good high from our finds, we headed out further west.
One quick pitstop in Georgetown for a burger, during which we had to fight the hordes of people unleashed by school holidays, and a shower later and we made it further west to our next stop. Low sandstone outcrops marked the edge of the Einasleigh uplands and we fanned out with dragons on our mind. It didn’t take long to find two Storr’s Monitors (Varanus storri) before Justin stole the show with a tiny Tympanocryptis. The species will hopefully soon be described and we were stoked with the tiny, well camouflaged one we’d found. The other dragon we were after, the Gulf Two-lined Dragon (Diporiphora carpentariensis) proved elusive, with only a single Tommy Roundhead (Diporiphora australis) found active by Nick. A small North-eastern Orange-tailed Slider (L. zonulata) and a Robust Ctenotus (Ctenotus robustus) rounded out the remaining daylight and we continued towards the Gulf.
After the appropriate sustenance in the form of a beer and some noodles had been had at a random bench on the side of the highway, dark was upon us and the head torches were out. Numerous geckos were turned up with relative ease, including the target Pale-striped Ground Geckos (Lucasium immaculatum) in the far north east of their range. Other species, all found by Justin, were a Kristin’s Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus krisalys), several Eastern Fat-tailed Geckos (Diplodactylus platyurus) and a couple Bynoe’s Geckos (Heteronotia binoei). Happy with the finds but not finished for the night, we did a 180 and headed back towards Georgetown and a nearby waterway. Unfortunately, many of the holiday goers we’d seen in town earlier had beaten us there, with one random guy taking the time out of his night to walk out of his caravan and death stare us dodgy-looking herpers as we made our way down to the water's edge. Having navigated the camp scene we were greeted with the much nicer sight of hunting Water Pythons (Liasis fuscus) both at the edge and within the water. Stepping gingerly around them and the hundreds of toads it didn’t take long to find the target frog, a Dahl’s Aquatic Frog (Litoria dahlii), which were common along the more vegetated areas. After having our fill of frogs, I was working my way back around to the car and watching a hunting Water Python when sudden noises from up the bank made me turn. A Cann’s Snake-necked Turtle (Chelodina canni) that had been startled by my light was making a break for the water between my legs. After waylaying the turtle for the others to see, and finding a couple more Water Pythons and one Spotted python (Antaresia maculosa) before making it to the car, we bid our farewells to the horrid place and made it to Georgetown and a little south before camping.
Day 7
Our final major aim while out west was to find the Gilbert Ground Gecko (Lucasium iris), a species Justin was involved in describing and one we’d missed the year before. The track into Gilberton Station is long, rough and winding, particularly so from the north. After several hours navigating it and a quick detour to the homestead to say g’day, we were at our outcrop and ready to spend the rest of the day active searching. Climbing to the top got the blood pumping and we fanned out with our radios. It was relatively slow going over the course of the afternoon but we ended up finding a young Freckled Monitor (V. tristis), plenty of Leaden-bellied Fine-lined Sliders (Lerista vanderduysi), some flipped Silver-eyed Velvet Geckos (Oedura argentea) and a lone Northern Bar-lipped Skink (Eremiascincus isolepis). After rounding it out with some nice Ctenotus, we retreated back down to the car for more noodles and beers as night approached.
A detour before spotlighting to some tin produced the Ornate Soil-crevice Skink (Notoscincus ornatus) Justin was after and set us up perfectly to begin spotlighting on dark. Fortunately for us, it was a lot warmer than when we’d looked the year before and failed. Sure enough, it didn’t take long before I spotted a terrestrial gecko shooting around and ran over to find a large and perfect male Gilbert Ground Gecko (L. iris). Much relieved, we continued spotlighting around to produce a Phasmid Striped Gecko (Strophurus taeniatus), a Northern Soil-crevice Skink (Proablepharus tenuis) and a second Gilbert Ground Gecko with a regen. All our targets found and photographed and it was barely 8 pm, you couldn’t ask for much better. Deciding we weren't ready to make camp and wanted to be closer to a servo, we all piled back in the prado and drove the other long and winding road out of Gilberton to the Conjuboy roadhouse, making camp a little before midnight.
Day 8
The shitty reception at the roadhouse the next morning managed to tell us one thing, it was still, very frustratingly, raining on the tablelands. Originally, we’d planned to climb Mt Bartle Frere for the endemics, but none of us were keen to do the walk in the rain with no chance of finding the lizards. Deciding to call it, we instead headed for Townsville, with a quick detour for some of other Hosmer’s Skinks (E. hosmeri) at a spot Justin had found recently. Once again, none were keen to come out of their crevices but it was great to see very orange coloured individuals at the spot. No doubt we’d be back. Tired and a bit frustrated with the weather, we made it back to Justin’s with a complementary case of beers.
