Reply To: What about snakes and spiders?

Good to see kiwi’s conforming to the stereotype of being well wary (ie: totally s*#tscared) of anything remotely reptilian or arachnidian!!

Apart from the fact that there’s not to many proper cracks at the crags in close proximity to Perth, generally the aboreal reptiles you are likely to encounter on a cliff are non-venomous (eg: carpet pythons, monitor lizards & King skinks).

Of further comfort, should you encounter a said bitey in a vertical environment, is that the snake is unlikely to be in a physical position to actually strike and bite due to actually using it’s cylindrical muscle structure to cam itself the crack.

Aside from that, cliffs & adjoining rocky environments are favourable habitat for many species of reptiles & other creepy crawlies, and in most warmer weather visits to cliffs you will encounter many providing you are observant, its one of the priveleges if living in a country with abundant wildlife.

It is often on the approach and bush thrashing descent that you’ll come across the venomous elapid snakes (ie: tiger, dugite, mulga & gwardar), so it’s always a good idea to keep eyes & ears well open, usually you will hear a moving snake (in dry bush) before actually seeing it. The times you do come across an elapid snake on the cliff, they are usually falling after slithering to close the edge, so are not to worried about you, unless you are haplessly belaying at the base and suddenly a displeased snake drops into your rope pile.

My pick of cliffs within the South West for reptile encounters:

– Darlington Boulders, falling dugites, goanna’s in cracks, very good for scaring Tasmanian who are only marginally more tolerant of reptiles than New Zealanders.

– Wilyabrup, resident King skinks & carpet pythons. The skinks are quite large & a shiny black colour so regularly cause a few heart palpatations due their tail looking like a tiger snake as they scurry behind flakes.

– Bobs Hollow, very popular with the snakes, lots of carpet pythons, juvenile dugites & a couple of large resident dugites that appear unexpectedly (falling from above)

– Peak Head, large resident carpet pythons which feed on nesting sea-birds and cause some anxiety when dominating the belay ledge.

– Peak Charles, more reptiles than a crocodile farm. Heaps of montitors, varied pythons species, brown snakes & death adders. Not a place to get bitten, due to remoteness but the wildlife is one of the joys of climbing here.

Not to put you off, just something to be conscious of when climbing anywhere in Australia.