We had hiked down to the pool at the bottom of one of Litchfield’s many waterfalls. While I was poking around the edges of the water, my sister saw this large lizard smack dab in the middle of it. It was alternately prowling underwater and pausing with its head half-submerged, apparently both catching its breath and checking out the environment for anything to worry about.

I’ve written up an account of this three-week trip to Australia here.

The next day we were out early, taking pictures of some rock pools, when I noticed a sinuous shape on the rocks near the edge of the water. Sure enough, it was a very large Merten’s Water Monitor catching some morning rays. About ten minutes later we saw it stroll over to the water and ease itself in, ready to start the underwater prowling.