it off the road to safety while the truckie is on the air
horn tearing down the road. I know for sure if we
hadn’t moved that animal off the road it would have
been annihilated.
With a few photos on our cameras we were more than
happy to call the day a resounding success and
decided to head back into Coober Pedy. A stroke of
luck saw us find a Western Blue-tongue lizard (Tiliqua
occipitalis) strolling across the road at the typical non-
‘A
huge cattle train
way back. It was disheartening to begin with, as I
counted five squashed Thorny Devils in a row, but the
sixth was alive and well, and bang in the middle of the
road. Boy, was I keen to move this unique little lizard
to the safety of spinifex and sand! It truly amazes me
how many animals become road kill here in Australia.
It’s a surprise we have anything left when you factor
in feral predation and other anthropogenic environ-
mental issues.
was bearing down in a cloud of dust.
We had to
chalant pace of a blue-tongue. I was out of the car
before Gaz could stop, and couldn’t contain my excite-
ment over the unassuming skink.
“Find of the trip!” I exclaimed to Gary, whilst clutching
at the animal and moving it to safety on the other side
of the road.
It was time to return to Alice Springs, and we were
feeling very satisfied with our time spent in South
Australia. I really wanted to top off my trip in the best
way possible. Gaz had mentioned seeing Thorny
Devils (Moloch horridus) along the southern part of
the Stuart Highway, and I was yet to see one alive, as
previously I had only seen the remains of road-killed
animals. I asked Gaz to keep a close eye out on the
act fast .’
Coober Pedy was incredibly harsh yet extremely
rewarding for us two avid snakies. As much as we
wanted to kill each other while being stuck in the
mud, we also had an amazing time searching for
something fierce.
Previous page: Inland Taipan or Fierce Snake
(Oxyuranus microlepidotus).
Left: Western Blue-tongue lizard (Tiliqua occipitalis).
The ‘find of the trip’!
Below: This Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus) topped off
the trip.