One of the most common animals in Australia are the Blue Tongue Lizard and here's one that currently resides in my back yard. He/She has been here for some time and in Spring they are as common as anything.
They get their name from the blue colour of their tongue and don't be too concerned. The first time you meet it will be sure to hiss and show off it's tongue to you.
If you leave it be soon enough you will be friends and it will be comfortable enough around you to be visible.
I also have a golden retriever and a cat. As you can see from this image he/she is too big for the cat to get and my dog tends to leave it alone so it is completely comfortable exposing itself in the morning to get some morning rays.
Blue tongue Lizards are not venomous but do have a nasty bite so don't get too comfortable and touch it as it may bite.
Blue tongue lizards eat snails, caterpillars, insects, and other garden pests even small mice! So they are a great pest control for your garden!
It's illegal to catch them and keep them as pets. But seeing that this fella will be around for some time as my backyard is now his home I often find snails and put them near his hiding spot. Under my large umbrella that he has carved out a hiding spot.
Blue tongue lizards can grow to half a meter long so quite large and this one is almost at full size so will most likely move soon as there isn't enough space for it in my backyard.
Blue tongue lizards also don't lay eggs the have a live birth and upto 30 reptiles can be born in one labour, ouch!
Around September they will commence mating and give birth in December- January.
So let's keep an eye open if we get to see baby lizards around the place!