Christmas creatures

 

I'm back to work now following a pleasant break spent mostly up in the Blue Mountains. Just that little bit of altitude is enough to knock a couple of degrees off the oppressive summer temperatures but it's a bit of a struggle just now with the mercury rising above 40°C with depressing regularity.

Blue-tongue

Mountain Heath Dragon 

At least the hot weather brings out the critters and so one should always have a camera at the ready. The highlight of my holiday was a 7-8ft Diamond Python which showed up one afternoon on the in-laws' back lawn. Being a python it was remarkably chilled out and didn't mind me getting close. And being a python, I didn't mind getting close to it. I don't think I'd be jumping into the bush in bare feet after a Tiger or a Brown!

  

Diamond Python

My mother-in-law has a very cute Peron's Tree Frog living in her watering can at the moment. It emerges each night at which point it lives up to its other name - the Maniacal Cackle Frog!

Peron's Tree Frog

We managed to get away for a couple of day-trips as well. One of these took us over to the Capertee Valley which is a favourite spot of mine for a few of the more dry inland bird species. Nothing too unusual this time except for a friendly wombat out for a stroll in the middle of the day.

Wombat

Wallaby 

Of course when it gets very warm there's always the option of throwing yourself into the ocean with the hordes. Between kicks to the head I managed to spot a couple of octopuses on my last dip. Caught out in the open, one of them promptly stopped and pretended to be a seaweed covered rock by curling up and making it's skin go spikey like the surrounding vegetation. A remarkable disguise that my attempts at a picture just don't do justice.

 Octopus in disguise