Get out your books

[nuthn2do]

Dull greyish black, about 1m long 3cm thick, ventral scales pink/apricot with some dark banding, no other distinctive markings. A very agile climber and extremely active considering the weather is 15 degrees and overcast. Location is Nundle (170 km's inland of Port Macquarie), altitude is 850m and open eucalypt forest/grazing land.

Ok, you now know as much as me.
Any ideas?

 

[CHEWY]

Hmm? Sounds interesting? Thinking along the lines of Stephen's Banded. Seeing as you wrote so much info, I'm guessing no piccy's.

 

[Tommo]

i agree, stephens banded snake

 

[Switch]

Maybe an Eastern Small Eyed Snake ( Rhinoplocephalus nigrescens)

 

[Switch]

depends how prominant the banding is, some small eyed snakes have blotches that can appear like bands

 

[nuthn2do]

Yeah Switch, I first thought of a small eyed but wasn't sure if they were abboreal. This thing apparently is quite at home looking for tucker 2m up a tree.

Nah no pics Chewy, the property owner is not that keen on getting close enough to use the digicam but they did have a decent pair of binoculars. From the description relayed by mobile phone I've ruled out Stephens, Golden-crowned, Copperhead or White-lipped because it's head has no distinctive markings at all.

 

[Magpie]

Brown tree snake

 

[bigguy]

Either a very dark Brown Tree snake or an old favourite, a Rough Scaled Snake.

 

[ackie]

Im putting my money on a brown tree snake.
ps-small-eyed snakes r completely hopeless climbers and golden crowns also suck at climbing.
A little more info could help though...small or large eyes in comparison to the head? is the head disinct from the neck?
If it is a brown tree snake it is very very thick for its size...my one is 5 foot and about 2cm wide even though he is a great feeder, just a thin species.

 

[nuthn2do]

Mmmmm, head and eyes not distinct (the caller described them as similar to a RBB).
Anyway it looks like it's set up camp so I'll head down there tomorrow and have a poke around.