In the trees: the kookaburra’s crazy laugh can be heard throughout the forest. We spotted this one sitting very still next to the freshwater creek awaiting an unsuspecting fish.
In the undergrowth: a wary goanna lazes, keeping an eye on us passersby and hoping we don’t get so close that she has to move from her sunlit resting place.
What’s that in the leaves? Just a 7.5 foot long copper python. Non-poisonous, and drunk on sunlight, this guy was calm and relaxed enough to touch as we walked by (he was also missing an eye from a previous, less-friendly, altercation).
On the beach: watch where you step. Jellyfish, horseshoe crabs, and sea snakes are some of the many ocean-dwellers that meet their end on the sand.
In the tide pools: anemones, trilobites, crabs, and sea squirts hide in this rocky playground.
Open water: on my brief airplane joy ride over the island, I spotted this mother humpback and her calf heading south.