With the technology around these days, it’s hard to impress kids.
But the excitement in the voices of three boys, who watched a Jacky Lizard laying eggs in Royal National Park, shows it takes a lot to beat what nature has to offer.
Riley Vaughan and Isaac Chafei, both 13, and Leo, six, were in a group making the 2.5 kilometre trek from Burning Palms back to the car park about 7pm on Sunday.
The boys were walking ahead of the others when they saw the lizard beside the track, standing over a hole.
“Normally, they are quite scared and take off when someone approaches, but this one didn’t move,” Riley said.
“When we looked closer, we saw what looked like little white stones, and then we realised she was laying eggs.
“Isaac got his phone out and started videoing.”
The video of the Jacky Lizard (Amphibolurus Muricatus) sighting was tweeted by the Australian Museum where Riley’s parents, Melissa Murray and Wayne Vaughan work.
Ms Murray said they had spent the weekend in a heritage shack that has been in the family for more than 70 years.
After the sighting, the boys alerted the other members of the group and, together, they watched the lizard lay more eggs and bury them.
”It was on a section of the track, where sightings of this type of lizard are not uncommon, so we are always on the lookout,” Ms Murray said.
“But, it would be very rare to see one laying eggs – I have been going down there for 28 years and this was a ‘first’ for me.”
Ms Murray said the Coast Track was now used by 30,000 visitors a month, according to official figures, with most going to see the Figure 8 Pools near Burning Palms.
“Most people are so hell bent on their destination they are not seeing what’s around them, and they would walk right past something like we observed,” she said.
Ms Murray and Mr Vaughan, who live in the inner western suburbs, organise Nippers at Burning Palms.
Riley will become the third generation of the family to be a lifesaver at the beach if he passes his Surf Rescue Certificate test this weekend.
Museum websites say the Jacky Lizard, which is also known as the Jacky Dragon or the Tree Dragon, was one of the first Australian reptiles to be named.
It was described by English zoologist George Shaw in Surgeon-General John White’s Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, which was published in London in 1790.
Adult females probably breed every summer and may have three to nine eggs, which are laid in shallow burrows.
