Wild skink on metamorphic rock, Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia.

A wild skink climbs a rock on Bluff Knoll, Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia. Stirling Range National Park was declared in 1913 and is now an ecological island in a sea of farmland. 1500 species of flora are packed within the park, more than in the entire British Isles. 123 orchid species grow here. 87 plant species found in the Stirling Range occur nowhere else on earth. The Stirling Range was born from river delta sediments deposited 1800-2000 million years ago (Palaeoproterozoic), then metamorphosed weakly into sandstone, quartzite, and shale rocks and deformed more than 1200 million years ago. Buried deep in the Earth's crust, today's Stirling Range was gradually exposed by weathering and erosion over time. Bluff Knoll is 337 km (4.5 hours drive) southeast of Perth and 100 km northeast of Albany via Chester Pass Road. An ideal time to visit is late spring and early summer (October to December), when days are beginning to warm up and the wildflowers are at their best. Winter, between June and August, is cold and wet. Allow three to four hours to complete 5 km round trip on the Top Trail.

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Filename: 04AUS-11128_skink.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 3800x2850 / 3.8MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; Animalia Australia Reptilia South Pacific Southern Hemisphere WA Western Australia animal nature reptile vertebrate wildlife animal
Contained in galleries: AUSTRALIA, WESTERN: Walpole-Nornalup, tingle, karri

A wild skink climbs a rock on Bluff Knoll, Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia. Stirling Range National Park was declared in 1913 and is now an ecological island in a sea of farmland. 1500 species of flora are packed within the park, more than in the entire British Isles. 123 orchid species grow here. 87 plant species found in the Stirling Range occur nowhere else on earth. The Stirling Range was born from river delta sediments deposited 1800-2000 million years ago (Palaeoproterozoic), then metamorphosed weakly into sandstone, quartzite, and shale rocks and deformed more than 1200 million years ago. Buried deep in the Earth's crust, today's Stirling Range was gradually exposed by weathering and erosion over time. Bluff Knoll is 337 km (4.5 hours drive) southeast of Perth and 100 km northeast of Albany via Chester Pass Road. An ideal time to visit is late spring and early summer (October to December), when days are beginning to warm up and the wildflowers are at their best. Winter, between June and August, is cold and wet. Allow three to four hours to complete 5 km round trip on the Top Trail.