80-year-old Aussie finds terrifyingly large lizard clinging to his house

(Eric Holland)

An 80-year-old Australian man got quite a surprise when he discovered a five-foot lizard in his backyard.

Eric Holland of Thurgoona, New South Wales was puttering in his shed when he opened the door and spotted an enormous animal darting across his yard, reports The Border Mail.

“I was just doing a repair job in my shed when I opened the door and I saw this huge thing run across the ground and out of sight,” Holland told The Mail.

He wisely decided to go inside, but then heard a banging on the side of the house, and so went to investigate. That’s when he spotted the goanna lizard scaling the side of his house – the banging noise was the lizard’s tail hitting a drain pipe.

“He just hung onto the gaps in the brickwork as he climbed up,” said Holland in an interview with radio station 2GB Friday morning.

He was quick enough to snap a photograph of the animal clinging to the side of his house. Business Insider Australia reports that Holland sent the photo to The Border Mail. The paper posted the image to Facebook, and it wasn’t long before the goanna from Thurnooga was a viral sensation. Yes, the photo has thousands of likes, and yes, there is a contest to name the frightening reptile.

Lace monitor lizards, also known as lace goannas, can grow to two metres long and weigh up to 20 kilograms, and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage told The Mail that it is not unusual for the reptiles to be found in the area around Holland’s home.

“I couldn’t have been more shocked if a Martian had landed,” Holland said. “I’ll be wearing my long pants and my big boots outside, that’s for sure.”