Goanna

[Ironwood]

When I got back from my walk down to the creek this afternoon, I was greeted by this fella at my front door.
He was almost 5 feet long, luckily he went for the nearest tree...

[wigz]

That's a big one. Nice series showing the full length and detail. The last one is the best with detail and clean background.

[Alan]

Wot he said - you live in a beautiful environment

[Ironwood]

Thanks Alan and Alan. That last shot, I was about 2 to 2.5 meters away from it with the Sigma 50-150 @150mm and F2.8. I am really taking a liking to this lens.

[pauld]

good eating get a feed out of him

[Ironwood]

good eating get a feed out of him

They might be alright cooked on the coals, but my butcher supplies pretty good steaks

[Isac]

Brilliant work with that lens Ironwood. Great shots of the bungarra and well presented giving the different zoom stages.
That's a sand goanna (Varanus gouldii ) it's a species of large Australian monitor lizard. Other names are - Gould's monitor, sand monitor, racehorse goanna, bungarra and Tingka.
They can be quite frightening. When I was working up north, they were common as mud. I was at the rubbish dump at our camp (near Tom Price) and the dog was barking at a lizard under a bush. I could only see the tip of its tail. The lizard decided to eat the dog and came out of the bush at high speed. The dog beat me back to the 4x4 by about 3 seconds. By geez they are quick!

[Ironwood]

Thanks Isac.

Yes they are very quick alright. I am wary of them so try not to get too close.

I was 16 when I left home and went up to Weipa to start an apprenticeship with Comalco. There was a big one that was a resident in and around the electrical workshop, they used to feed it, and I remember it was pretty docile, but it was huge, I seem to remember 9 feet long. That was about 35 years ago.

[Isac]

Good story. Thanks.