Well G'day

Last week the call was made to go in search of the elusive coastal taipan. I picked up CuddlesCooper at 6am and off we drove in his cruiser.

The target area was the hillsides and blacksoil plains along the freshwater Finniss. Cuddles had heard from someone that taipans occur there and I liked the description of the habitat so we figured we have nothing to lose by sussing it out.

It was a humid, overcast and wet start to the day. Hmmm not great for the snakes we were after but as you all know, the weather changes from minute to minute this time of year. We found the track and began the journey through the Finniss Range and across the plains. Really awesome country by the way, huge plains just come out of no where that just scream taipans.

We stopped near an old quarry early on and fossicked around the rocky mounds and boulders and just before heading back to the car Cuddles turned up this cool little fella.



It's called Lemon Throated or Black-Spotted Ridge Tailed Monitor (Varanus baritji). This one was about 40cm and would be an adult, although they do get a fair bit bigger, around 60cm. Spending most of their time in and around rock crevices or close to their burrow. That spiny tail comes in handy to when something tries to remove them from a crevice, using it as a wedge.

After a couple of pics we were on our way. Up hills we walked, nothing but skinks, gecko and a now deceased cane toad.
Well we drove, and drove. Creek crossings and mud holes, nothing to rough and some good exploration. I might've talked a bit excessively about taipans and how good it looked for them, Cuddles seemed to cope pretty well

We ended up at the Finnis, had a quick flick before Cuddles made the call to try his spot further upstream. Good call.
We both got a few hits on small squidgys before Cuddles landed a very swampy 50 and then a 50mm. As I walked downstream to catch up I stumbled across a tiny Mitchells Water Monitor that made me look like more of a fool then usual, no photos to show

I climbed onto a log and eyed off the little pool in front of us. A decent barra was swimming up current toward us and after instructing Pete where to cast he was on After an extended fight because of the current Pete landed a good little fish. He marked his rod at it's length for the monthly comp, I'm not sure what the outcome was.



We hung around the river for a couple of hours, walking downstream. Pete got a couple more good fish. I foul hooked a barra that was swimming around in front of me and after a p..s weak fight of 3 seconds I looked in it's mouth and saw a little hole from Pete's weedless hook! Poor fish had been caught twice now. It swam off slowly but stay upright in the current, disappearing into the next pool. We both got some fat sooties.






Thunder could be heard in the distance so I wandered back to the car to find Pete looking pretty anxious. Chucked the gear in the back and tried to bolt out before the storm hit. We drove out of the trees onto a plain, greeted by one of the meanest looking storms I've ever seen. Had to get a couple of photo's.


I just noticed that in my second pic (the one below) there is a small brown blurr just above the trees that wasn't in my first pic. Obviously an alien aircraft of some description.



I've even added a zoomed in image to show the fantastic detail. No doubt it will be on the front page some time soon That being said, I'm not sure what it was, a big bug?





"Oh good! Only 15km of washed out tracks and blacksoil plain to go!"


Well the next 40min sucked. About 6 seconds after saying "Hmm I think it might've missed us." the rain started. And boy did it rain. I checked the radar when I got home and that area had 30mm in 20min. The track turned into a river and rutts were invisible. Pete almost caved in the side of his head a few times but managed to get us out of there. It was rough going and there were a couple of moments that almost had us staying the night on the blacksoil.

The cruiser took a beating, side step bent down, exhaust leak, radiator leak, a few scratches.

Overall it was a good day. Not many reptiles but we didn't really do a whole lot of serious searching. Next time Pete we'll get some!

I'd say the area is inaccessable to all but quads after that downpour.

Good Times

Sheeby

Some nice pics there Sheeby!! Awesome

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Nice fish and nice photos Sheeby good stuff

Cool post Sheebs,
That storm does look gnarly, the UFO must have good nav gear to get through it....
Cheers.

Great post and pics, especially the storm one.

Hi there,

Cool pics!
That sounds like a nice trip.

Have a good day,
Pecheur

good stroy.
yeah would of sucked to be stuck on the black soil plain.
might of been the last people in there this year.

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awesome pics mate.

Looks like a great day and a few really nice fish. The photos of the storm are fantastic!

Nice post with great pics.
Ive seen a 2 nice western browns in that area,one had dark spots on him. But never come accross a coastal taipan in the NT....yet.
Hope you find one, and would very interested if you do, make sure you post about it please!
The UFO looks like the sun behind a wicked storm to me.Thanks for shareing.

Ha that aint the sun as the storm was to the east and it was 5pm.

But before the news gets too excited it was probably the moon rising around that time.

Nice photos and write up Sheebs. Oh, and yes my head is still in the right place, just