Bathing Lizard

Brisbane's Botanical Gardens are turning out to be a treasure trove of photo opportunities, and I'm happy to be the eager pirate trawling its waters and digging its sands for doubloons.

This picture was really fortunate. I was originally just happy enough to take a photo of the lizard resting near the water, but as I lined up the shot it disappeared. Looking around I spotted it grasping a nearby water lily. It looked like it was sinking, and I wasn't sure what to do, as I've got no idea if lizards can swim or not. I reasoned they probably can since it would be an otherwise suicidal lizard to through itself into the water so enthusiastically. Sure enough it made its way back to the edge for me to take a decent number of photos. This one is my favourite even if the picture is a little blurred. I need to find myself a camera with a more reliable focus, though it's pretty competent otherwise.

Interestingly enough when this lizard finally crawled (sprang really. It seemed to get out just as quickly as it got in) out of the water, I saw a second lizard tail briefly curl across the top of the water before disappearing back down into the depths. I can only assume this means there are many more lizards swimming around and under the lily pads like mini Godzillas, biding their time until their ready to surface.