The Great WA Raking Trip (Part 4)
Laverton to Alice Springs (10th - 14th of September)
Day 12
After a decent night's sleep in non-freezing temperatures, we started the day with some tin and rubbish flipping that we’d conveniently camped next to. Despite flipping a fair bit the finds were meagre, with only a couple of Thick-tailed Geckos (U. milii), our first Great Desert Slider (Lerista desertorum) for the trip, and more glimpses of Woodland Morethia’s (M. butleri) that stubbornly refused to be photographed. Continuing another 40 odd kms down the road we pulled up at some low granite domes and instantly spotted a male of the target, a Laverton Ring-tailed Dragon (Ctenophorus infans). Some walking around produced several more before we settled in for photos, with Nick developing a stress ulcer with non-firing flashes. Fortunately for the man, when we returned to the car Justin had the clippers out and had morphed from a slightly disheveled look to sporting a glorious handlebar moustache, which he then removed (sad). With all our morning duties complete we headed back into Laverton for food.
Midday had arrived by the time we’d sorted our civilisation chores, as Laverton was the last decent town we’d be in before Yulara. Leaving behind the promise of iced coffees and pies we headed for the open road and vast central deserts. Several stops for more dragon targets proved unsuccessful, with cool and overcast weather likely not helping our cause. It proved more helpful for bluetongues though, with a beautiful Western (Tiliqua occipitalis) followed up by an angry Centralian (Tiliqua multifasciata) crossing the road. Despite the road being in good condition, it was dark by the time we hit Warburton and we continued north without further roadhouse sustenance. We made one stop in the night to try for Robust Dunesliders (Lerista ips) in a new spot, which although not providing an ips, did turn up a bunch of other things. Several pretty Western Two-toed Sliders (Lerista bipes) were found sand swimming, alongside a Northern Desert Banded Snake (Simoselaps anomalus) that I followed tracks for well over 30 m’s to find. Additional Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus ciliaris), Desert Fat-tailed Geckos (Diplodactylus laevis) and a sleeping Western Desert Dragon (Diporiphora paraconvergens) were also found among the dunes. Lerista sated, we continued to a roadside pulloff for a hopefully decent night of sleep, which we were getting until I woke up to see a dingo mouthing my toes through my sleeping bag (both Nick and I were sleeping on top of our tents). Ordinarily, dingos don’t really bother me but I was opposed to losing my feet to gentle gnawing, so after 45 minutes of stupid decision making Nick and I eventually set up a tent and crawled in together for safety in numbers (that was my excuse at least).
Day 13
I spent the first little bit of the next morning chasing down a couple of things the dingo had dragged into the bushes, as well as mourning the loss of my shoelace (the only actual casualty from the night). A short jaunt down the road later and we were at the Warakurna roadhouse, which I had fond memories of from the toasties from the previous November. Unfortunately for us, not only did the roadhouse not open until 45 minutes after opening hours stated, but the fuel pumps were also getting serviced. Altogether, we ended up wasting a good two extra hours sorting everything before continuing eastwards. Call it what you will, but luck seemed to apologise for our delay and after only a short time driving in the cool and humid conditions I spied a medium-sized snake sitting on the edge of the road. Mashing the brakes and yelling for Justin and Nick, we piled out into the billowing dust for the glorious and very unexpected (undeserved?) sight of a Western Desert Taipan (Oxyuranus temporalis) sitting calmly on the road. The next five or so minutes were exceptionally chaotic as we celebrated the find, a species many people spend days and multiple trips searching for. During all of this the taipan sat very still and barely moved which was very lucky. After the first rush of excitement and nerves had passed (not an area you wanted to chance a bite), we moved to some open dirt and set about getting photos. The snake seemed to be a very calm individual, and despite remaining very alert, didn’t show any signs of striking or other defensive behaviour. It was the first tai I’d spent time with and we all enjoyed seeing her watching us back - it was interesting to finally see what people mean when they talk about the genus being intelligent snakes. Absolutely stoked with the whole experience (definitely one of my favourite herping moments) we watched her disappear back into the spinifex sand plain before continuing eastwards.
Our morning delay and subsequent snake finding had already taken up a large amount of the day at this point. We stopped briefly to look for some Centralian Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skinks (Egernia eos) without luck, although I did find two Black-headed Monitors (Varanus tristis) and a Massive-gibber Ctenotus (Ctenotus septenarius) getting around the rocks. More outcrop searching also failed to turn up a Graaf’s Ring-tailed Dragon (Ctenophorus graafi) (sorry Justin) and before long we were at the main stop for the day. Spreading out across the dunes in the last light quickly delivered some nice skinks, a Fourteen-lined Ctenotus (Ctenotus quattuordecimlineatus) and a Fire-tailed Skink (Morethia ruficauda). With darkness came the main event and it didn’t take long to find numerous Robust Dunesliders (Lerista ips). It took a little longer to find the species I was most after, but finally one trail delivered a Slender Duneslider (Lerista vermicularis) and nearby I found an Interior Blind Snake (Anilios endoterus). Refinding the others and comparing notes, we’d cumulatively found numerous ips (~20 in total) along with several L. vermicularis and another A. endoterus. Justin had also comes across two more Western Sandswimmers (E. pallidus). At this point the wind was worsening and bringing the occasional gusting rain and we didn’t muck around long with photos. Retreating to a nearby gorge we settled in for the night, although I eventually gave up in the sprinkling rain and slept in the car.
Day 14
The weather hadn’t improved the next morning and it was decidedly cool and drizzly. Despite the awful conditions we still managed an exceptionally random Night Skink (Liopholis striata), a very pretty species I’d been hoping to see for a long time. With that early success we waved goodbye to WA and smashed out the remaining kilometres to civilisation at Yulara. One small detour was made to Kata Tjuta in the rain, where some quick flipping produced a Centralian Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis centralis) for Justin. The squad rounded it out with a quick visit to the rock before heading for sustenance and flat, overpriced beer.
We whiled away the remaining daylight hours with food and the hope that the rain would bring out desert Notaden. The temps were freezing, hovering in the mid teens. One slight detour was made to show Justin some kintorei burrows, with the skinks themselves unsurprisingly hidden away from sight. For the second time in a row the rain proved not enough to bring out the frogs (incredibly upsetting) and after a little lapping we gave up and went for a short spotlight. It once again payed off for Justin, with several small Pale Knob-tailed Geckos (Nephrurus laevissimus) on the prowl. A very chill day completed, we set up shop at a public campground.
Days 15-16
We started the next morning with some flipping and raking in what seemed be some beautiful stuff, but only produced some massive Bynoe’s Geckos (Heteronotia binoei), Southern Slandslider’s (Lerista labialis) and a Centralian Bluetongue (Tiliqua multifasciata). For the main target for the final day of my presence with the fellas we made a fatal error. The original plan, which we stuck to, was to go looking for the rarely seen Rusty Dragon (Ctenophorus rufescens). Not a good choice in disgustingly windy, cool conditions. Nevertheless we gave it a crack for unsurprisingly no payoff. Some random species did turnup, including Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus ciliaris), Umuwa Spotted Gehyra (Gehyra pulingka), Great Desert Sliders (Lerista desertorum), Spinifex Slender Bluetongues (Cyclodomorphus melanops), and a Sharp-snouted Delma (Delma nasuta). Nick came up with some ideal bycatch with a large and perfect Pale-striped Mulch-slider (Lerista speciosa). Considering our success over the previous two weeks we were happy to call it without killing ourselves failing to find things and we headed into Kulgera for a final pub meal, before camping north of Erldunda.
We spent the morning sorting ourselves in Alice before I flew out (we did manage to add another species to the trip list, an Inland Snake-eyed Skink (Cryptoblepharus australis) at some random caravan park). The usual teary goodbyes followed as the boys dropped me off before continuing on their absolutely monumental trip back to Townsville. Altogether we’d had an immensely successful run and it’ll be difficult to ever top this trip. So bloody good! I’m already keen to go back chasing the remaining Lerista in WA.
