Winton

Sunday 18th July

After chatting to people along the way over the last few days Michael has had a change of heart with regard to the Birdsville leg of our trip. He doesn’t feel comfortable at the thought of all the dirt roads so there has been an adjustment to the return journey. Shock, horror, this means we will be retracing some of our steps but only from Winton to Barcaldine. He is feeling more relaxed with that decision.

This morning we were booked in for the 9.30 Age of Dinosaurs Experience. We had  been a bit ambivalent about it but finally decided we are in Winton so you kinda should do it. The museum is actually about 23 kms from town on the top of a Jump-up, which is a bit like a mesa. As it turned out it is a perfect setting for the museum with huge Rocky outcrops, cliffs canyons and spectacular views. It’s not too hard to imagine dinosaurs wandering around this environment!

The experience began with a visit to the Fossil Preparation Lab. Many of the people who were working there are volunteers who have steady hands and lots of patience.

From here we returned to the Collection Room which houses the fossils of four different dinosaurs, including Banjo, who greets you at the entrance. We watched a short movie and had a chance to look at the fossils.

The third part of the experience was reached after a short trip on a mini train shuttle. The March of the Titanosaurs Exhibition has only been opened for 7 weeks. The 54 metre long track site was discovered on a property near Winton and relocated here piece by piece over a 3 year period. The scientists even recreated the subsoil before laying the tracks. It is amazing what palaeontologists can read into these prints. 

We then were free to wander the Outdoor Galleries which had a variety of representations of dinosaurs found in the region.

On our return journey to the starting point Michael sat next to the driver. Anyone who wants a job should head out here…she came for a week, six years ago!

We were very impressed with the whole place and would certainly recommend to anyone coming this way.

On our return to town, we had some lunch before visiting the Musical Fence, where Michael tested his drumming skills, and Arno’s Wall a collection of junk embedded in a wall.

It was our turn to cook tonight and we celebrated Eric’s upcoming birthday, as tomorrow it is time for the Smiths and Munros to head in different directions.