Australian Fauna

We’ve Met before!

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We've met before wallabies seem to be very much creatures of habit

I’m no expert when it comes to Tasmanian wild life but thus far in my gaining of knowledge about the animals that we see every night on our walk through the Cataract Gorge I often see the same wallabies pademelons and possums. We stop and observe and many of the wallabies and possums in particular seem to remember us. Often if we stand very still they come very close and have a sniff to just to check us out. It’s a funny thing but it is a very satisfying feeling to recognise and be recognised by an absolutely wild creature.

A colourful mouth but very bad breath!

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A Blue Tongue Shingle back or Bob Tail skink

A first time experience with a Blue Tongue Shingle back or Bob Tail skink rewrites most of the common expectations of reptiles. For gardeners they are welcome in my garden anytime as they eat slugs snails and insects, but last year I found one trying to climb a tomato plant to eat cherry tomatoes. I’m quite happy for him to eat the windfalls in return for his work eating all the gastropods, but most of the time they just seem to sleep!
I photographed this one in W.A. with a Canon AE1 and a 100mm lens. He was atop of a retaining wall, so just a bit below my eye level. Like many other creatures surprised at meeting a human he made a definite hiss and I could see the full extent of his colourful gob and for his size a cavernous throat… Then I caught a whiff of his terrible breath!