Guess What? It's Poisonous

Eric made it back safely from the States on Friday which left us the weekend to spend together bludging. Bludging is my latest Aussie word, but technically we weren't really bludging. Bludging is basically hanging out with a connotation of being a sponge. We were hanging out, but we weren't sponging.

I gave Eric the option of doing whatever he wanted to do for the weekend and number one on his list was going goanna hunting. As is so often the case in life, the weather was non-cooperative on Saturday so we watched a few movies and did our grocery shopping instead. The good news is Sunday was nice so that afternoon we headed out to the site of my previously way-cool and successful goanna hunt - Tomaree Head.

We tramped along heading toward the spot where I spotted my big'un a few weeks ago. Just past that point I spotted a SNAKE! Since it's Australia, it seemed prudent to assume it might be poisonous. I snapped a bunch of pictures all the while making sure we gave it a really, really, really wide berth.

After watching the snake do its snaky things for a while, we moved on down the path. It wasn't long after that we spotted a goanna! It was not a big'un; it was around 3 feet long and just plain cute. I didn't think I'd ever say that about a lizard, but goas (as Aussies call them) just seem to start growing on ya. We saw another one about the same size later on, but alas, we did not see my big guy or his brother. This goa was in a tree which was a bit disturbing because this means I need to be watching the ground and above me all at once.

We next did the short walk to Zenith Beach and saw another snake. Since some of my coworkers have not seen any snakes in the wild in the year they've been here, it seemed a bit crazy to see two in one day.

When we got home we looked up the snake, and, yep, it's poisonous. It's an Australian red-bellied black snake. The description for its bite, "seek immediate medical attention", was just a bit sobering, but our strategy of treating everything here as poisonous seems to be a good one.

We'll be keeping with that strategy on our next hunting adventure.

Goanna Kind of Day

I went goanna hunting today. I had heard there were goannas out on Tomaree Head so I decided a hike was in order because it was a gorgeous and quite warm day. The hike up to the top of Tomaree Head is a lot of up, up, up, so I was rather gassed by the time I got to the top. Worse yet I did not see a single goanna. I enjoyed the view for a while and snapped off some pictures. At this point I was feeling a bit put-out because I had a beet-red face, was doing my best imitation of a porcine sweat, and was a complete goanna hunting failure.

Trying to keep a positive attitude, I decided I'd at least try to get some bird shots. I'm on the way back down and spot this little bird uphill a bit who is just chattering away. While I'm diddling around getting the camera ready, I suddenly realize there's some movement behind him by the rock. A goanna!!! I could just see him through the brush. I was stoked, but a little disappointed that I didn't really get a good shot of him before he moved out of sight.

I learned goannas on the move are not quiet so I filed that little tidbit away. I got back down from the summit path and decided to take the path to the World War II gun emplacements. I got all the way to the end of the path without seeing any more goannas. Dang! I'm heading back and suddenly I hear something in the uphill brush. I'm looking everywhere for movement and suddenly I see it - my second goanna and even from a distance I could tell he was a big'un! I took a few pictures and realized he was heading down in my direction. I don't know how long I waited, but he just kept coming my way. I kept getting better and better shots and he eventually ended up on the path with me! I followed behind him for a while and marveled at everything. He was around 6 feet long and had the coolest skin and markings. And his tongue and claws - they were something else! I loved the way he walked; each step caused him to twist his body giving him this cool ungainly gait.

I realized he was doing his rounds looking for food. He checked a drain gate, went by a couple picnic tables, and then into an old World War II doorless small building before he headed back up the hill. I got a lot of cool shots that I uploaded here: Tomaree Head Goanna Album.

I headed back down the path and before I knew it I saw a different goanna near the path. Where were these guys when I was going up and needed some encouragement? This one wasn't quite as big, but he was still at least 5 feet from nose to tail. I got a bunch more shots before he headed off into the brush.

I saw two more goannas off in the distance on the way back. The big one was following the little one which made me think maybe it's mating season. They were too far off to be immortalized in my camera because of the obscuring brush, but I figure not every goanna has modeling aspirations anyway.

A goanna is an Australian lace monitor lizard. They can get up to almost 7 feet long which I find hard to comprehend. The ones I saw seemed plenty big so I can't imagine one even bigger. I understand from reading about them that they climb trees. Guess those claws are for more than just looks.

Goannas - check that one off the list of things to see and do.