I set my alarm for nice and early this morning. A Sunday. Australia Day. A day with absolutely zero need to be up at the crack of dawn but what can I say? I like to keep everyone guessing 😂 The benefit was of course, aside from a leisurely microwave latte (trust me, it's a thing, a good thing) and some homemade banana bread that I forgot was toasting under the grill and was a nice deep tan colour and smoking by the time I remembered, was loads of time to sneak an adventure in!
I took the husband up to Mt Annan Botanic Gardens so that he could finally see the ONJ - not Olivia Newton John but that would have been equally exciting - but the Owlet-Nightjar. And it didn't disappoint. Still cute as a button and still being harassed by the Red Rumped Parrots, popping up to the entrance of one of two hollows every now and again. The husband was suitably smitten. But it was hot, steamy and all round not that pleasant so after getting enough photos we headed briefly into another section of the garden hoping to see a Lace Monitor, another first for Matt.
We put our heads down and pushed through, occasionally looking up into the towering gums hoping to see one of the massive reptiles. By this time, I was absolutely drenched in sweat and could actually feel droplets falling from my forehead onto my cheeks. Mmm attractive. Now, I never know how to do these posts when there is more than one exciting (for us) species sighted as I like to keep the photos and the stories separate but let's just say, spoiler alert, that at one point Matt stopped suddenly and in my head I can hear him swearing but he's not much of a swearer unlike myself, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and just say that he spotted a wallaby and said as much. I'll get around to those photos shortly!
But there was a bit of rustling and a comment again from Matt who basically found all the good things today which is reason enough to stay married to him, that he'd spotted a lizard that wasn't an Eastern Water Dragon. So that, ah, narrowed it down 😂 And then I saw it, slowly walking through the undergrowth, crunching the leaves and snapping the twigs along its way and it sure did look like a Lace Monitor just on a significantly smaller scale but you know what they say, "if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck..." And so, the husband not only got to see the one and only ONJ but also his first monitor, a juvenile, making its way up a tree, its tongue flicking as it looked into hollows and nooks and crannies for something to feast on.
Seriously, these are truly beautiful reptiles, their patterns are just so stunning. And this one showed off its incredible climbing skills as it scaled a tree fast and without so much as a struggle. So today was lovely in all the ways I had hoped although there was still no echidna which was definitely on my wish list. Can't win them all I guess.
Lace Monitor
Mt Annan - Botanic Gardens
