Adventure at Perenjori - Wildflowers & Lizards

It's amazing what can be achieved in just one weekend. My husband and I had been told this was one of the best wildflower seasons ever. So we decided to travel over 720km just to take in the breathtaking sight of wildflowers (and hopefully a fascinating creature or two) in the Perenjori region. We were not disappointed on either account. We walked for kilometres surrounded by carpets of pink, white and yellow everlastings. Granite outcrops sheltered a variety of orchids, lizards and other creatures including cockroaches that sprayed a foul smelling deterrent designed to protect them from predators. Waterholes were filled with the fattest tadpoles and fat, lazy frogs sheltering under rocks from the perfect blue-sky days. I was so busy enjoying my weekend I managed to capture only a small portion on camera. Enjoy!



Video Music: Strobelites (Escapism) by The Womb can be found at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/819443

Lots of lizards

On the weekend, a typical Perth, blue sky, sunny day, we went four wheel driving with a number of friends.  At one point, in the middle of the track was a large ‘sleepy Joe’, also known as a bob tail skink or blue tongue lizard. So we stopped to get it off the track before it was run over.  Of course everyone came to see why we’d stopped so suddenly.  With so many people around the lizard, it couldn’t be convinced to move in the right direction, so my husband picked it up to take it off the track.  As expected, the lizard wasn’t particularly happy about being handled, opened its mouth threateningly and showed that wonderful, distinctive blue tongue. 

Further along on our expedition I noticed something move behind one of the cars as they were trying to pull up off the main track.  I was out of the vehicle in a flash, camera in hand, so I could photograph a beautiful goanna with golden stripes on its belly.  Being one of Australia’s faster lizards, it didn’t hang around for long, raced off and ducked under a rock ledge.  My husband, who followed, stepped onto a large sheet of stone that rocked back and forth. Worrying that he might have crushed some wildlife under the rock, he lifted it, only to discover an amazing barking gecko.  Handling it gently, we checked that it hadn’t been hurt.  It hadn’t. It was photographed and released it.

Seeing these three completely different lizards was a great experience, especially as some of our friends were new to Australia and hadn’t seen anything like this before.  I particularly loved seeing the leaf gecko as I’d not seen one of these in the wild before, and geckos would have to be one of my favourite creatures. It just shows what you can see when you take the time to look around you when in the bush. Australia has lots of amazing lizards.

Slugs

Isn’t it wonderful how children have a natural fascination with the creatures in our world, even the slimy ones? 

My nephew, who is autistic and my daughter have always loved to find quiet nooks in the garden to relax and de-stress.  They spend hours examining leaves, flowers and ‘creatures’.  They use all their senses – smelling the perfume of the flowers and crushing scented leaves; listening to the sound of insects and the creak of the trees; feeling the different textures, feeling insects, caterpillars and slugs crawl over their hands, looking closely at all the tiny elements and colour that make up a backyard garden; talking and singing quietly to themselves the whole time.  I deliberate plant gardens with as much variety as possible, both for the children and to provide a home for insects, lizards, birds and frogs and any other creature that finds its way in.

Recently the kids went outside to play in the sandpit only to discover it still contained the sandpit toys, but had been emptied of sand.  In amongst all the toys were slugs – lots of slugs.  Instead of being upset they sat in the empty sandpit letting the slugs glide over their hands for hours. Feeding them blades of grass, being fascinated by the slug’s mouth and how the optic and sensory tentacles retracted when touched.  Yes, they had to wash all the slime from their hands when they came inside, but they had fun.  They were peaceful.  They giggled.  They were gentle.  They enjoyed an amazing creature that we usually just try and eliminate from our gardens.

For an interesting look at how leopard slugs reproduce view the following video from the BBC wildlife show and hosted by Sir David Attenborough.