Sarina to Calen (13th – 14th)

Mackay, one of my favourite places.

Day 4

Everyone likes a cross breeze to keep things cool, particularly when the alternative is stifling heat and humidity. Unfortunately for me, a light storm also decided to pay us a visit the next morning and I have no doubt Nick enjoyed watching me frantically trying to close up my swag. I couldn’t be too upset however, within two hours we would be at the Eungella Chalet. Two hours of driving through sugar cane later and we were pulling up for 10am beers. For anyone that’s not been here, I can thoroughly recommend a drink overlooking the valley, it doesn’t get much better. Not dawdling too long, we drove a short way up the road to the first spot I wanted to visit, a place that I’d been at almost exactly a year before.

Now I am first and foremost a herper but I do dabble in the darker arts of the birding on occasion. Pulling up at the spot I heard the distinctive calls of the Eungella Honeyeater and got a several glimpses of them darting around the trees. With that target safely observed I once again returned my eyes to the forest floor as we trekked into a rather pretty creek line. Nick proved to be a great boon for the morning walk, partially because of his herping skill but predominantly for his ability to attract all the leeches, keeping them away from Justin and I. Before everyone could get too upset though we started to find some reptiles. Diamond-shielded Sunskinks (Lampropholis adonis) were everywhere along with a rather angry Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) and our first Orange-speckled Forest-skinks (Magmellia luteilateralis). Arriving at our creek we set out along it looking for a particularly pretty Forest-skink for photos as well as a certain significantly smaller species. Unlike last time I visited the spot, I quickly found a perfect Eungella Shade-skink (Saproscincus eungellensis) basking at the edge of the creek. However, in the amount of time I dawdled enjoying the creek and taking photos of the skink it started to pour, and all hopes of finding the best Magmellia to photograph were dashed. Braving the leeches once again we made a dash for the car, but it mattered little, we were drenched by the time we returned. The lady that had served us earlier that morning was once again graced with our presence back at the Chalet, although this time we were significantly damper and likely slightly smellier. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon hanging around trying to dry out and waiting for night.

Tired and not completely dry we were back in the ute and hoping for some snakes. I’ve never had much luck on dirt however, and a small Crapet and an Eastern Small-eyed Snake were all that showed themselves. We did better on the lizard front though, with my first and rather large Pink-tongued Skink (Cyclodomorphus gerrardii) and a perfect Eungella Leaf-tailed Gecko (Phyllurus nepthys). Justin decided the entertainment wasn’t good enough and passed out in the front seat. Choosing to cut our losses, Nick and I grabbed some quick photos as a light drizzle settled in and with a quick jaunt back we were at our camp spot for the night, Broken River.

Day 5

It had continued raining throughout the night while we slept and breaking camp was a dreary event, even the platypus I’d seen everywhere the previous year had holed up to escape the weather. Dodging rain showers would continue to be the main event for the rest of the day. After retreating all the way to Mackay and dining on a fine quality feast offered by Macca’s we assessed our options. Rain on the Clarke Range was not appealing so we instead decided to investigate some local mangroves for a cryptic monitor. Finding no monitor but plenty of mosquitoes, midges and syringes left by some of the charming locals we changed tact and decided to risk the rain.

Finch Hatton Gorge is a beautiful spot, albeit popular with the tourist crowd. Previously, I’d failed to see much here but it wasn’t long before we had a frog in sight, the unusual and diurnal Eungella Torrent Frog (Taudactylus eungellensis), and even better, it wasn’t raining. After leaving her behind we continued on to consistent sightings of two common but pretty skinks (Lemon-barred Forest Skinks (Concinnia amplus) and Blue-throated Rainbow-skinks (Carlia rhomboidalis)) along with my first new lizard for the day, a Hannah’s Shade-skink (Saproscincus hannahae), which unfortunately evaded the camera. Our steamy late afternoon walk was nicely completed with a juvenile Lace Monitor (Varanus varius) and a pretty Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) who had decided to hang out at the main swimming hole.

*Taudactylus eungellensis*
Unfortunately, this photo was heavily affected by a foggy front element.

With our daily need for little brown skinks satisfied, we left Finch Hatton as the light faded. We had the remaining two Phyllurus sp. found in the Mackay area as targets for the night. The first one up, Mt Jukes Leaf-tailed Gecko (Phyllurus isis), had evaded me multiple times the previous year and I wasn’t leaving without it. However, after about two hours of spotlighting I was beginning to reconsider before finally spotting some moving eyeshine deep in a tangled mess of vines and rock. It wasn’t long before Justin had a second and we settled in for photos. Both unfortunately had regen tails but considering just how hard this species had been to find we weren’t complaining as we set off in search of the second, the Mt Ossa Leaf-tailed Gecko (Phyllurus ossa ossa). Unlike P. isis, I’d seen this species before in an idyllic creek line full of monstrous boulders. It didn’t take too long before we’d navigated into the maze far enough to find several, accompanied by the eery calls of Red-eyed Tree Frogs (Litoria chloris) all around us. Celebrating our victory of a two Phyllurus night we stumbled back to the road and sat down amidst the mist that had settled in. We did eventually tear ourselves away from the damp tarmac in search of a camp site and it wasn’t long before we were bedding down amongst the playground equipment at Calen. Not our finest camping spot choice but it was 1 am and raining and I didn’t care one bit.

Townsville 2020 (Part 2)

Sarina to Calen (13th – 14th)

Townsville 2020 (Part 3)

Townsville 2020 (Part 1)