SE Queensland 2019 (Part 1)

Day 1

It was finally time. Uni had finished up for the year, I’d made my way home via a circuitous route filled with turtles and Nick had just arrived in Narrabri from Melbourne. We were absolutely ready for the next 6 days of Dare iced coffee fuelled herping madness. Our trip was changed before it began however, fires on Main Range had closed the Border Ranges NP, our first planned stop of the trip. This caused us to do the trip in reverse, and go much further north than originally planned. After some quick discussion and a last-minute Woolies trip, we decided to head north into the Brigalow towards Glenmorgan.

The country out west is suffering terribly in the drought, something we hadn’t taken into account with our revised Glenmorgan goal, and it was a dreary drive north. Fortunately, the culinary delight that is Goondiwindi Maccas temporarily lifted our spirits before we wound up at our first area, the roadside verges that harbour some of the last Tympanocryptis condaminensis. 5 seconds of poking around the dead grass was all we needed to realise we’d have no luck and we hit the road again.

5:00pm saw two fine young man walk into the Glenmorgan bar and sit down despondently for a beer. We’d had no better luck with the local Yakka Skinks (Egernia rugosa) and now we needed to kill time for nightfall. After several hours of chatting to some of the locals, as well as hiding Nick’s identity after he’d had an incident in the area in April, we headed out with headtorches to see if the nightlife was out to socialise. We were greeted by the usual assortment of geckos (Box-patterned Geckos (Lucasium steindachneri), Eastern Stone Geckos (Diplodactylus vittatus) and Dubious Dtellas (Gehyra dubia), but little else. After eventually tracking down my first new species for the trip, the newly described Elegant Velvet Gecko (Oedura elegans), we decided to flee the central brigalow. The drought had defeated us before 9:00pm on our first night.

As everyone naturally does at that time of night, Nick and I set our sights on another one of the newly described velvet geckos, the Arcadia Velvet Gecko (Oedura lineata), known from only two isolated populations approximately 350kms north of Glenmorgan. We became slightly more hopeful heading north after encountering some light rain and puddles, along with some wildlife out to utilise it. Brown Tree Snakes, Spotted Pythons, Geckos, Burrowing Frogs and my first few Rufous Bettongs were all seen, but only where it had rained. Arriving at our first site at around 1:30am it was cooling off and I was a little apprehensive. Nevertheless, after poking around for 15 odd minutes, I managed to turn up two of the velvet geckos as well as my first Golden-tailed Gecko (S. t. taenicauda)! Nick and I both lost it and settled down to take some photos. Another half hour later saw us on the road again to head north a further 60kms to, hopefully, our camp site and the second population of Arcadia Velvet Geckos. Escorted in by a Dingo, we managed to quickly find our first Chain-backed Dtellas (Gehyra catenata) and a slightly random Three-clawed Worm-skink (Anomalopus verreauxii). We failed to find either the Velvet Gecko or the second subspecies of Golden-tailed Gecko (S. t. albiocularis) but at that point we were beyond caring and rolled into our respective swag or tent. It was just past 4:00am.

Day 2

Day 2 began a mere two hours after Day 1, with some unwelcome sunshine waking the pair of us. In desperate need of our next iced coffee, we piled back into the subi and headed east. A certain mountainous and partially rainforest covered National Park was to be our goal for Day 2. Fast forward another 5 hours or so of driving, several iced coffees and some fast food.

It was early afternoon by the time we arrived at Bulburin NP and hot and sticky to boot. The air was fairly hazy with smoke blown in from fires near Rocky, an unfortunate reminder of the sad state of affairs with ongoing bushfires further south. Nevertheless, we managed to turn up two skink species, the Broad-templed Calyptotis (Calyptotis temporalis) and the Diamond-shielded Sun-skink (Lampropholis adonis), both new ones for Nick, whilst waiting for the arrival of Ben Revell and nightfall.

Leaf-tailed Geckos have always been a favourite of mine, and although one could argue that the Ringed Thin-tailed Gecko (Phyllurus caudiannulatus) doesn’t really qualify with its carrot-shaped tail, it was an absolute pleasure to see a few of them getting around that night with Nick and Ben’s company. We also managed to find two Golden-crowned Snakes (Cacophis squamulosus) and a male Tusked Frog (Adelotus brevis) guarding eggs. Nevertheless, Nick and I were tourists on a schedule and we were determined to fit in as much as we possibly could. It was time to head south.

After getting back down off the mountain, naturally finding snakes as we went (another Brown Tree Snake plus our first Crapet, the appropriate and endearing name for Coastal Carpet Pythons) we were off in search of another gecko under Ben’s guidance, although he sadly had to part ways and head home. Queue finding another Crapet and several unfortunately run over animals on the way to the next target. It was once again past midnight and I’d jumped out of the car after a snake I’d just passed on the road. Unfortunately it had disappeared, although it was just as likely a hallucination inspired by severe lack of sleep, but I did cast my torch around before returning to the car. Bingo! Our second target gecko for the night and our second subspecies of Golden-tailed Gecko (S. t. triaureus). After finding a second we both sat down with our respective geckos for photos, quickly followed by an exhausted sleep just down the road.

Day 3

A much more reasonable total of around 5 hours of sleep greeted us the next day, followed by the usual stuffing of camping gear back into the car and the resigned sighs staring at a map of how far we had to travel. Cooloola you were in our sights!

As much as a couple of skinks and rainforest make me happy, (Cone-eared Calyptotis’ (Calyptotis lepidorostrum), Bar-sided Forest-skinks (Eulamprus tenuis) and some rather nice Delicate Skinks (Lampropholis delicata)), the fish and chips and shower we managed to source in Rainbow Beach that day were a definite highlight. We unfortunately bombed on the Cooloola Snake-skink (Ophioscincus cooloolensis) despite spending the day in good habitat but you can’t have everything.

As evening fell, Nick and I made our way with head torches and cameras back to a certain lake we’d visited in the day. Our target? A little green frog. Despair true reptile addicts for we did indeed have a few frog targets for the trip, this was not to be our last. In typical fashion we over-estimated how much time we needed and ended up sitting around the edge of the lake for over an hour waiting for dark, with only the creation of a sand-written tribute to our frog and the company of several random backpackers to pass the time. But finally, darkness came and with it, hundreds of frogs calling! Nick and I stalked many Cooloola Sedge Frogs (Litoria cooloolensis) that night, calling males were a little camera shy. After we’d had our fill we spotlighted back to the car, enjoying the company of another Brown Tree Snake and a rather large and twitchy Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens).

We were not done frogging for the night though, a short jaunt down the road and we hopped out at another reed-filled waterway. I’d made firm friends amongst the local mosquito population at this point but was determined to find the second sedge frog, the Wallum Sedge Frog (Litoria olongburensis). Tip toeing over peat bogs we managed to find a few of the emerald gems, although they were far less common than their cousins at the lake and weren’t calling. Dry conditions probably weren’t helping us. Satisfied with our first frogging adventure we once again hit the road in an attempt to reach Maleny for the next day. We failed miserably and ended up camping near Kondalilla Falls due to the need for sleep but we definitely covered a few kilometres that night.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

SE Queensland 2019 (Part 2)