There's more to life than spiders. The arachnologists think so, too. So with the moon high over the Indian Ocean, we take a drive down the marsupial highway. It's barely six miles by dirt road across the island, but it's a long, strange trip after dark. We're on Barrow Island with special permission after taking a safety and environmental friendliness class.
Nobody wants to grope for the tire iron tonight.
So we drive slowly from the oil workers' camp, looking for the varied hopping and tail-dragging mammals that come out to play after dark. Later we see a marsupial possum and what looks like its empouched young, feeding by the roadside. But at 90 square miles, it has hundreds of tiny ecosystems that include mangrove splotches, rocky ledges, soft sandy beaches and eucalyptus stands. Each area caters to different animals, including spiders. The island's unprotected west coast is where sea turtles from deep in the Indian Ocean come to lay their eggs, and where the perentie lizards lie in wait.