with Scott Eipper and Euan Edwards, two of Steve’s
mates who were a source of great herp knowledge
and entertainment.
We stopped several times on the way to our camp,
mostly to check out piles of rocks on little hillocks,
searching for whatever herps we could find and
incidentally enjoying the sight of cockatoos and
kookaburras - iconic Aussie birds, though everyday
sights to these guys.
It was on this trip that we experienced a truly Aussie
institution - the ‘swag’. In India, we’d have called it a
bedroll. In the old days of long distance train travel,
every family had a couple of these; nowadays they
are a rarity. But it wasn’t bedtime yet, not by a long
shot. Scott gestured towards a pool that he said
might have a resident platypus. We wanted to see
this egg-laying, venomous mammal, but it was
keeping a low profile. We had a couple of kangaroo
hot dogs for dinner and then headed out, head
lamps blazing, to search for herps.
There’s nothing like
going to a new location
with a couple of