A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunately...

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John Martin
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Location: North end of Lake Okeechobee, Florida

A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunately...

Post by John Martin »

This past April my wife and I took off for a week into the (somewhat) outback. We drove to an area known as the Gawler Ranges, a vast area of low mountains/hills of volcanic origin comprised mainly of rhyolite. If you look at the map below you'll notice several blue areas in the state of South Australia - don't be fooled by the blue color - although these do represent lakes they are all dry salt lakes, some huge, and all holding only temporary water after heavy rains. The largest of these depicted on this map is Lake Gairdner, approx. 100 X 30 miles in area. The Gawler Ranges lie immediately to the south. Lake Gairdner also hosts an annual speed trials event, somewhat like the Bonneville Salt Flats.

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We left from our hometown south of Adelaide and drove the 6-7 hours to our destination, Mt. Ive Station. This is a working sheep station (station = ranch) located in the middle of nowhere - nowhere is good, no?! Here're pics of the long road in, and the shearers' quarters where we stayed for a couple of nights.

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Lake Gairdner

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These pics show a drainage (had some pools of water) leading up to a rock formation called Kath's Castle.

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These lizards were fairly common on the rocks in the drainage - Peninsula Dragon, Ctenophorus fionni. The female is the redder of the two.

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A distant thunderstorm.


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A very cool Yellow Faced Whipsnake, Demansia psammophis cupreiceps. Sorry for the crappy pic, it doesn't do the animal justice but it would just not hold still.

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A few random habitat shots. The last two show spinifex grass - think porcupine, this stuff will hurt you! Spinifex provides shelter to a number of reptiles. Some, such as a few geckos, are found pretty much only in association with this plant.

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A Welcome Swallow, Hirundo neoxena

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Rhyolite and spinifex...

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These rock formations are called Murphy's Haystacks. They are, technically, inselbergs. This is a German word meaning isolated hill or mountain that has risen above the surrounding area due to erosion. These are formed of granite. There are more in the area, all thought to be from a common underground monolith.

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South Australia features three peninsulas. As seen on the map above they are, from west to east, Eyre, Yorke, and Fleurieu. These next pics are on the upper west coast of the Eyre Peninsula.

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A coastal plant.

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And to finish off, I'll add this one my wife took early one morning (while I was still sawing logs). I think she did well!

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Thanks, hope you enjoyed...
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Tim Borski
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by Tim Borski »

John, I love the hab shots! The swallow on wire is a great looking bird.
'Given a good flashlight and a day or so at "Kath's castle", I'm sure I could meet an untimely demise.
Thanks for a cool post.
PS. Inselbergs remind me of the Flintstones for some reason.
Tim
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Chris Smith
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by Chris Smith »

Amazing stuff !! I hope to visit Oz in the nearish future.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris
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moloch
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by moloch »

Very nice, John. I would love to visit SA again sometime.

That Yellow-faced Whipsnake had some great colours. Those in my area are drab and olive.

Regards,
David
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Marc Dubois
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by Marc Dubois »

These landscapes are so nice !!
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Beautiful and beautifuller! Thanks for sharing!
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John Martin
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Re: A little bit of South Australia, herp light unfortunatel

Post by John Martin »

Thanks everyone! David, isn't the whipsnake in your area a different subspecies, D. p. psammophis? Or is cupreiceps found there too?
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