The Great Gehyra Hunt (Part 3)
Nanutarra to Broome (27th-3rd of October/November)
Day 13
Despite our dreams (maybe mostly my own) of a Lerista stictopleura, concerns for the troopy’s well being meant we canned plans for Mt Augustus the next day, and headed further north-east for Karijini. Roads in the Pilbara don’t go in straight lines so it took most of the day to get there, but it was worth the wait. The whole Pilbara is interesting geologically, but Karijini is perhaps the place it is most easily appreciated.
After satisfying our rock needs we headed down into one of the gorges in the late afternoon and found our first reptile, an impressively angry Goldfield’s Crevice Skink (Egernia formosa). Once the sun set, we were overrun with herps and over the course of the night found plenty of Small Spotted Rock Gehyra (G. micra), Western Shield Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus wellingtonae), Pilbara Cave Geckos (H. spelea), Pilbara Termite Gehyra (Gehyra pilbara), Pilbara Sand Plain Geckos (L. woodwardi), Pilbara Ground Geckos (Lucasium wombeyi), and another Pygmy Python (A. perthensis) and Beaked Blind Snake (Anilios grypus). Several calling Pilbara Toadlets (Uperoleia saxatilis) were found amongst vegetation at the bottom of the gorge, although they proved painful to photograph. We also snuck in a quick cruise looking for more Pilbara Gehyra, and found two Pilbara Adders. A very good, but very long night.
Day 14
I was up early the next morning with goannas on the brain, and set back off into the gorge looking for rock monitors. Unfortunately, I failed to find the target hammersleyensis (which would become a recurring problem) but did find my first Ridge-tailed Monitor (Varanus acanthurus). A little surprising that it took me so long to find my first Ackie, but I wasn’t complaining, although I lacked the energy to photograph it. After rousing the others, we spent much of the rest of the day hiding in the gorge from the heat, and failing to spot Varanids. We did, however, make a quick trip to the info centre that turned out to be well worth our time. One of the ladies working kindly showed us to the cleaning room where they had “Spikey geckos”, and unveiled a Northern Banded Knob-tailed Gecko (Nephrurus cinctus) hiding in the shadows. Cleaning cupboards aren’t usually where you expect to see a Knob-tail, so it was rather comical.
After waiting out the rest of the day and swapping to another gorge, we were back out in it with a big goal in mind, the Pilbara Barking Gecko (Underwoodisaurus seorsus). After a couple of hours of grueling spotlighting I was starting to doubt it, although I did spy a Rusty Skink (Eremiascincus rubiginosus) disappearing into the grass, along with a Mulga that hogged the walking trail. Stephen came up with a tiny and typically thrashy Sand-diving Blind Snake (Anilios ammodytes) before Naomi managed to save the night with a cute juvenile U. seorsus, but fate was cruel and it was of course missing its entire tail. We’d all accepted our partial victory and I was off releasing sampled Gehyra when finally I spied another, a large and perfect individual sitting in the middle of the road. Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy and it was a very sulky individual to photograph, much to Scott’s dismay. After waving it goodbye we cruised back to camp and hoped for more things on the road, although the late and cool conditions worked against us. Another long but largely successful night.
Day 15
I was pretty shattered by this point, but seeing as we were planning on leaving later that day, I set off in the morning for more goannas. However, this time I changed tact, and instead inspected trees for a Pilbara Tree Monitor (Varanus bushi). I only made it around a short loop before needing more up & go’s, but naturally, there was one sitting on the tree next to the troopy when I made it back. After that great start to the day we packed up shop and headed south for Meekatharra and our next Gehyra targets.
After a thoroughly disappointing visit to Newman subway (do not visit this place unless willing to risk food poisoning) and many kilometres, we arrived in the significantly cooler Meekatharra. We began the night on the trail of Large-spotted Mid-west Rock Gehyra (Gehyra polka) and with considerable effort, found a few braving the cold, along with my first Mottled Ground Gecko (Lucasium squarrosum). Swapping rock piles, I soon spied large, terrestrial eye shine and sprinted over for our first Southern Banded Knob-tailed Gecko (Nephrurus wheeleri), active at 11°C. Unsurprisingly, it had a jelly bean regen. The herp gods seemed determined to mess with our gecko finds this trip, but relented slightly, as I looked up to instantly see another, this time with an original tail. A couple of Bynoes and Western Marbled Velvet Geckos rounded out the night, our beds were calling.
Day 16
Meekathara is a bustling and beautiful township as we would find out the next day, and we easily occupied ourselves for the entirety of the unseasonably cold daylight hours. We eventually dragged ourselves away from its many delights in the evening, and spent a short time trying to rustle up a Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skink (Egernia depressa) to no avail, although a singular Long-nosed Dragon (Gowidon longirostris) and Unpatterned Robust Slider (L. macropisthopus) did make an appearance. We hadn’t quite met our quota for G. polka so we spent a short while hunting down more at the same rock pile in the freezing conditions, before rushing back for a pub feed and an early sleep. A brilliant 24 hours in the heart of WA.
Day 17
After our restful previous day, we were keen to say goodbye to our dodgy airbnb and hit the road heading back north. The road back to Newman was long, but we did make one welcome stop. A quick spotlight in mulga crevices and rake in the leaf litter yielded a chunky nugget of a Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skink (Egernia depressa) and several Pilbara Robust Slider (Lerista neander) and was rather pleasant in the mild conditions.
After whiling away the afternoon at the Capricorn Roadhouse and some nearby granite hills, it was sampling time. Hamersley Range Spotted Gehyra (Gehyra fenestrula) proved relatively common, although difficult to catch. However, little else proved active amongst the rock with the exception of a few Western Marbled Velvet Geckos, and we eventually got back underway and looking for a camp site. On a side note, do not look for a loo late at night in Newman. We did not have a single good experience here and it is best avoided.
Day 18
The crew was sorely in need of nuggets at this point. Fortunately, first stop the next day was South Headland, although it wasn’t until mid afternoon that we got there. South Headland Coles is also a great place to watch all forms of human life if you’re in need of entertainment. After having our fill of the locals, we headed out to the vicinity of Shay Gap, a much more aesthetic location, with stark rocky outcrops covered in spinifex. The night life didn’t quite live up to expectation at the first spot, although I did see my first Northern Quoll scooting amongst the rocks, and Yellow-spotted Pilbara Gecko (Diplodactylus savagei).
Swapping to an area of granite domes, we had much greater success. The enigmatic Crescent-marked Pilbara Gehyra (Gehyra unguiculata) was reasonably common amongst the exfoliations, as well as the much larger and extremely speedy Large Pilbara Rock Gehyra (Gehyra macra). After accumulating ten males of each, we made the long journey back out to the highway, and continued north all the way to Sandfire in a delirious daze.
Days 19–20
After our extended and tiring tour of the Pilbara, we had two days of rest back in Broome. These passed quickly with quality time spent at Matso’s, before we headed into the Kimberley, which forms the next section.
