Reda Tomingas: Amazing bugs and lizards in Flinders Ranges

Flinders Ranges. At last! We hit only the most southern part of it. The place is huge and the further you go the more desert you get.
It was the first REALLY hot day on our trip. We thought we would drive more northward the next day, but we ( or at least me) got this strange claustrophobic feeling. The one that has something to do with being in very hot places, very far away from any kind of water. And you can only bring a limited amount of it with you. We decided to go for the ocean the next morning.

A female cricket laying eggs in the grown. I know they have this special tool to lay eggs, but how on earth did she make that hole?

Red ground-the signature of Australian desert!

We got up high to look down on the valley we've come from. And we've been surrounded by kangaroos!

We were camping like old people-making only one day trips and returning back to the camp for the night. I've learned it's not cool at all. What cool is is to have your heavy back pack on your shoulders and walk like 20 km up to Mount Remarkable and sleep over at the camp up there. That's what's cool -to be fit and not to have any fear of dying of thirst. I'm totally OK with "uncooliness" ...

A cricket pretending to be a piece of wood. It was turning it's head back and forth. Swaying twig?
I wonder if he has met the green cricket lady.

The beautiful gum leaves. Should I bring some with me?

And now-some odd seed-cases! The ones above usually need fire to germinate.

There is a spider living there somewhere! I must confess-I was constantly checking for spiders. As one of the most deadliest spiders live here. The Redback spider. And we know, one of them lives somewhere in my friend's yard.
The only big one I've seen was the Hunstman spider. Under a toilet seat while camping. Not fun, not fun at all. OK, a little bit fun, but just a little bit.

Ah, all these interesting things in the bush...

Looking for something-can't remember-what. A small lizard perhaps. Oh, if I only knew what to expect in close future!

Puzzled animal expressions-the best! Is he thinking-to pretend he's not there or to run to his mummy?

Wheee-a lizard. We sat on a top of a hill (the trip almost gave us all a heart attack), eating our apples when this brave fella came along.

I wasn't feeling so great the next day (I drank too little water and probably got dehydrated ) so I stayed alone at the camp. I was laying in the car when I suddenly heard a rustle. There was a huge lizard, trying to get into our tent! I just sat there and watched him through our opened trunk. Then I got worried it would tear the net of the tent. I had to get out and nicely ask mister lizard to go away. I think it was the Lace Monitor, or Lace Goanna (Varanus varius) which can grow up to 2,1 metres long!

I gathered my courage and got out. The animal got spooked and walked (!) for the nearest bush. I got closer, so it started climbing up a tree.

This is how I got a chance to look at it as much as I want. I really wanted my friends to come back and look at this beauty!

There was a group of (I think) White-browed Babbler (Scientific name: Pomatostomus superciliosus) in the same tree as the lizard!

These birds really babble! One of the funniest calls I've heard in Australia. It's The Chestnut-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps).
I left the lizard alone and went to take photos of some birds.

Galah parrots were abundant! Noisy mornings as it was chick feeding time all the time.

Unknown creature in a sink. I hope it knows which end is the butt.

Luka got startled when she came across this exhibit at night. She thought it was a huge moth or something at first. Then we thought the poor bird got lost-we found it in the camp ground shower. But the next night it was there again! May be not such a bad place to sleep anyway. One can always have a glass of water.

The night was very stormy-thunder and everything. Later we found out there was a huge storm in Adelaide the same night. We considered ourselves lucky we didn't go the ocean that day.
A wet bug the next morning (above).