My photos of Australian wildlife.
A dragon lizard I snapped by the side of the road.
The first snake I ever saw. We don't get snakes in New Zealand and we
have only two poisonous spiders so this was a complete novelty for me.
This red bellied black snake is actually quite poisonous but isn't
usually agressive.
This is not a magpie: it is a peewee.
These two dragon lizards were fighting on the way to the carpark at
movieworld.
This is neither a magpie nor a peewee: this is a butcher bird. It kills
small animals and hangs them from tree branches until they dry out. It
also eats shortbread.
Hornets are bad!
I don't even know what this one is but that didn't stop me from
photographing it.
I think this one is called a hunter spider.
One of the few times I've ever experienced arachniphobia was when I was
taking this next photograph.
Do not feed the ibis.
Cicadas here in New Zealand aren't so colourful or so huge and loud. We
don't get them at all in Christchurch.
I love this type of spider: each one makes a different signature on its
web.
If you can tell me what the next one is then we'll both know. I think
it's pretty but it looked a bit too much like something that might
sting for me to actually like its company.
These ants can inflict pain, but not as much as green ants. This is a
meat ant.
I don't know if these can inflict pain: I wasn't game enough to find
out.
Some ignorant people try to tell me that crow is just another name for
rook: this crow looks nothing like those rooks that drop walnuts on my
parents' driveway.
This beetle gave me a fright: I went outside at night and saw my boot
shaking and this was what was under it.
This one lived just outside my caravan.
All my Australian friends were puzzled when I took this photo: toads
are a completely new idea to me. We just don't have them in New
Zealand. I'm told that this type can squirt acid from its eyes.
This creature, though essentially harmless, is the reason I started
double-checking to see if my sleeping bag is empty before climbing in
in Australia. In New Zealand there are dangerous animals but they don't
fit in my sleeping bag.
This is a little beach crab I saw one night walking along Main Beach at
Surfers Paradise.
A python at a zoo. The first non-venomous snake I ever saw, and the
second snake I ever managed to photograph.
Some wallabies at the same zoo. I saw plenty of wallabies in the wild
but they always run away too quickly for me to photograph them.
A koala. Still at the zoo. I didn't ever see any wild koalas. They not
only have opposable thumbs: they have opposable pinkies as well.
Still at the zoo. This one is an amber python: very pretty.
The good old-fashioned 'croc.
Dingos: the Australian native dog. Completely unsuitable as housepets
because they eat people if given half a chance.
A bush turkey. I saw a strange looking bird and photographed it. Later,
one of my friends told me it was a bush turkey. He also told me that
there was a brand of Australian wine called Bush Turkey, and a brand of
Americain boubon called Wild Turkey. Wild Turkey tried to sue Bush
Turkey for plagiarism but lost and gave Bush Turkey a whole lot more
business than they ever used to have.
