I couldn’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent wandering Melbourne’s volcanic plains. I grew up a just stones throw from them, on the sedimentary hills east of the Plenty River. Perhaps it is sacrilegious to say, but the volcanic plains were far more interesting for a boy obsessed with herpetology. Whereas the Red Box woodlands east of the river offered fleeting glimpses of the odd Garden Skink, the volcanic plains west of the river offered Little Whip Snakes, Brownsnakes, Tussock Skinks, Pobblebonks, Bluetongue Lizards, Cunningham Skinks, Copperheads, Tiger Snakes, Small-eyed Snakes. The choice was easy….

Southern Water Skink, Eulamprus tympanum

Brown Tree Frog, Litoria ewingii

Small-eyed Snake, Cryptophis nigrescens

Growling Grass Frog, Litoria raniformis

Striped Skink, Ctenotus robustus

Common Brownsnake, Pseudonaja textilis

Tussock Skink, Pseudemoia pagenstecheri

Little Whip Snake, Parasuta flagellum

Pobblebonk, Limnodynastes dumerilii