Age of Dinosaurs

Front leg bones

Hip socket from Matilda

Conor and Daniel in front of Banjo's jaw

More dinosaurs this morning, as we went to the Age of Dinosaurs exhibition just outside Winton. It’s  really a research facility that they run tours of as well, it’s where they clean up, prepare and classify the bones that they keep finding around there – the land was given to them by a local landowner who first found the bones of a huge Sauropod on his property which they nicknamed Elliott, and they’ve since found bones of another herbivore dinosaur which they’ve called Matilda, also pretty big, and a smaller carnivore which they’ve nicknamed Banjo. It was very interesting seeing the actual bones and examples of where they come from in the body, and to see some people at work cleaning up bones. Apparently they used to dig them up regularly, but now they only do a dig for more bones once a year for a 3 week period, because they keep finding so many bones that already they have 6 years’ of work sitting waiting for them to get through! The guide made the comparison between the Winton and Hughenden area, in that Hughenden used to be covered by an inland sea (so the fossils are of sea creatures like ammonites, fish, squid etc, whereas Winton was open land, but had lakes, so its fossils are of land based creatures. The centre is also up on a high mesa with great views out over the flat land all around.

After that it was more driving driving driving trying to go East. We had lunch in Longreach, were just too lazy to do any sightseeing (we’re slowing down, conscious that we’re towards the end) and stopped briefly at Barcaldine because we were wondering what a monument was, which turned out to be the Tree of Knowledge, which meant we got in a brief conversation about strikes and unions.

Tonight we’re bush camping somewhere which just happens to have another plaque – it was the first artesian water struck in the Great Artesian Basin in 1886, funny thing to have a plaque about. It’s right next to a rail line so who knows, we could get woken up in the middle of the night by a train rushing past. Nice and quiet anyway. We’re umming and ahing about where to go next, losing a bit of our momentum knowing that we haven’t got long to go. I think we’re going to give Carnarvon Gorge a miss, having seen a lot on the trip (although I’m sure it’s lovely) but are hoping to do Fraser Island instead, having seen the Ralh’s photos (and Vin you were quite persuasive in your email). What I’m really looking forward to now is seeing friends and family, including those in Brisbane, Murwillumbah and Sydney (not to mention those at home).