Well, of course I did it in cold blood, you idiot! ... I'm a reptile!

(That's the caption from one of my favorite Far Side cartoons, spoken by an alligator sitting in the witness chair in a courtroom.)

This handsome fellow, who is presumed innocent until proven otherwise, is a shingleback lizard at the Reptile Center in Alice Springs.

This wasn't on our itinerary but we had extra time, and I'm glad  as I would probably never have gone otherwise and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

We got to hold or touch several of the non-lethal reptiles in residence, including an amiable olive python named Barry.