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| Age of Dinosaurs, Winton |
Winton, and nearby Richmond and Hughenden are considered the
dinosaur trail of Australia and each of the towns has exhibitions of the
fossils that have been collected in the area.
Peter and I have visited the Age of the Dinosaurs exhibition when we
were in the Longreach/Winton area in July 2011 but we knew the boys would enjoy
it. The facility is set high on top of a
huge mesa plateau (huge rocky outcrops with cliffs and canyons overlooking the
plains) and is home to the world’s largest collection of Australian dinosaur
fossils including some of the most famous such as the Australovenator and the
Diamantinasaurus.
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| Tim riding Banjo |
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| Jake with Banjo |
We paid to attend the two tours available the first being
the collection area. Here we were shown
the various bones that have been collected for the Australovenator (known as
locally as Banjo) and the Diamantinasaurus (known as Matilda). One of these is 30% complete and the other
60%. A audio visual presentation of the
dinosaur was also shown including where the collected bones fit on the
dinosaur. It was certainly very
interesting especially if you are a boy and love anything to do with dinosaurs.
From here we walked down the plateau to the laboratory where
the second tour commenced. Here the
guide explained about the yearly two week dig, how the fossils are protected
for transportation and storage and then we were able to see a group of
volunteers and staff using fine tools to carefully remove the fossils from the
rock. It was amazing to learn that the
first fossils were found in the area in 1999 and that they are finding so many
bones during each year’s dig that they have sufficient in storage to keep the
staff and volunteers working for twenty five years to prepare the fossils for
show. Jake was particularly interested
in having an opportunity to be a volunteer and thinks that he will ask his
parents to bring him back to Winton when
he is twelve to undertake the ten days “prep a dino honorary technician assessment”
program.
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| Jake taking a ride on Banjo |
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Jake and Tim had looked forward to visiting
the Age of Dinosaurs for a long time |
After everyone had learnt enough and seen enough of the
dinosaurs it was time to continue our trip towards Townsville, still about 700
kilometres away and we needed to be there by the next day. We went back into Winton, had lunch in the park
and set off for Hughenden. We had a stop
in Hughenden at the Information Centre to view the fossils there on display as
Hughenden is part of the fossil triangle along with Richmond (to the west) and
Winton.
During our travels Peter had worn his hat most of the way
and in fact often two hats to avoid them being ruined. Both Jake and Tim had often referred to him
as “two hats” and it was not uncommon to see one of them wearing both
hats. All three boys had previously had
the Australian outback type hat but had worn them out or grown out of them so
we decided it was time that they had replacements. So fortunately the Hughenden Information
Centre had the correct sizes and three birthday presents (all in advance) were
purchased much to the pleasure of the boys.
So before we left town they had their photo taken wearing their new hats
in front of the dinosaur display.
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| Lizard at Age of Dinosaur complex |
We joined the Flinders Highway (which goes east/west from
Townsville through Mt Isa) towards Townsville and had decided that we would
camp overnight at Campaspe River. This
is a free camping area that we have previously stayed at and the boys were keen
to have a bush camping experience and to light a fire. The riverbed was dry but made an interesting
place for the boys to explore. There
were a number of caravans and motorhomes already parked up when we arrived and
they watched in surprise as out climbed the boys and the unpacking of the roof
rack commenced and the tents erected.
Jake and Tim have been taking it in turns for one of them to sleep in
the tent with us and the other in the tent with Connor – it was Jake’s turn
tonight. With the tents up and dinner
underway wood collection became the priority and after some hairy starts he
fire eventually stayed alight – marshmallows were the priority but only after
first course of T-bone steaks and salad.
The Engel fridge in the rear of the car has worked extremely well as a
freezer and we have travelled the full two weeks with a supply of meat for each
day bought in Melbourne before we left.
The T-bones were the last and were pretty tasty too.
After lots of marshmallows especially for two of the boys
(Jake only like one or two) and a game around the fire it was time for
bed. We still have 250 kilometres to go
tomorrow to reach Townsville, our final destination. The road trains and the trains on the train
line behind us kept going all night but surprisingly we all slept well.
