Our Dinosaur Experience

We've been to Winton twice before and each time we've visited the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.  The Museum is located on a jump-up about 24km from Winton.  There are two parts to the Museum, the Collection and the Laboratory.

The Collection tour gives an overview of the history of the museum following the discovery of dinosaur bones by David Elliott on his pastoral property near Winton.  There are bones from three dinosaurs on display - sauropods Elliott and Matilda and carnivore Banjo.

The Laboratory is where we're headed for.  This is the largest dinosaur laboratory in the southern hemisphere, with capacity for about ten volunteers who prepare the dinosaur bones.  There are around 100 volunteers who work in the laboratory for anything from a day or two to a few months at a time.

Volunteers come from all over Australia and even from New Zealand.  Minimum age is 12 and there's no maximum age (the oldest volunteer at the moment is in his 80s).  Previous experience is not required and training is "on the job". Ten days working in the laboratory leads to becoming an Honorary Dinosaur Technician.



On arrival we undertook an induction session before we started working on our rock covered dinosaur bones.  The rock was removed using tiny jack hammers with tungsten tips.  Over the 10 days of our course we'll use several different tools and will learn many skills.




It's a real buzz to see dinosaur bone emerge from the rock after 98million years.  There aren't many "firsts" left but we are the first people on earth to see these bones.

We've both been working on pieces of one of Matilda's ribs.  Our pieces fit together and the rib would be about 2m long when complete.

As well as working in the laboratory "prepping" the bones, AAOD conducts a dig over a three weeks in the winter months.   This year the dig runs through May/June and will be held about 90km from Winton.  Volunteers are a mainstay of this activity too.

The Stage 3 development of the Museum is about to be launched.  This will be located a few kms further along the jump-up and will feature a new Collections building and a series of life sized dioramas with walking tracks.  It will be a real WOW!! experience.

We're able to stay on the jump-up in our caravan while we're working here.  Life on the jump-up is good.  We're 75m above the surrounding pastoral land so the views and sunsets are magnificent.

We'll definitely be back to work here again and we're looking forward to seeing the new developments completed.

Longreach, Home of the Stockmans Hall of Fame

Longreach is on the Tropic of Capricorn and is home to several tourist attractions.  Possibly the best known are the Qantas Founders Museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame. We visited both of these last time we were here, along with many other sights.  This time we're only in Longreach for a couple of nights to fill our cupboards before we drive through to Winton.

We want to see the Stockman's Outback Show at the Hall of Fame which was not being performed last time.  We watched as Lachie Cosser performed with his horses and other animals and kept us entertained.

After the show we revisited the museum with its excellent exhibits.

Isisford, In the Middle of Everywhere

We're ambling our way through Central Queensland en route to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum near Winton.  We love this part of the country with its red dirt and rivers.  Unfortunately there hasn't been much rain over the past few years so it's very dry and many properties have destocked.  From Charleville we continued north along the  Mitchell Highway and  joined the Landsborough Highway a few kms south of Augathella, home of the Mighty Meat Ants rugby team.







We free camped about 40kms south of Blackall on the banks of the almost dry Barcoo River.  The road north was a dodgem track with roadkill - mostly kangaroos, some emus and the occasional pig littered the road.

On to Blackall, birthplace of the Queensland union movement, where the Queensland Shearers Union was formed to fight the pastoralists directives as a result of the lowering of the shearing rate in 1886.  (Nearby Barcaldine is the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party).  A pyramid in the centre of town tells the story of Blackall's union and political history.

About 120km from Blackall we were in Isisford.  We last camped here at nearby Oma Waterholes in November 2012 when we were still novice caravanners.  This time we're staying close to town at the Barcoo Weir camping area.  We're only a few metres from the Barcoo River.  We've managed to catch enough red-claw for a meal of red-claw laksa and we're enjoying the tranquility and birdsongs.


Isisford is In the Middle of Everywhere and it's claim to fame is the discovery of a number of unique fossils which are on display in the small museum.  The pipe along the roof of the museum is painted to represent the water python which, according to the local dreamtime story, formed the river.





The Isisfordia duncanii is the oldest of earth's crocodiles, living 90-95 million years ago.  Only about 1m long, it was a lot smaller than today's salties which reach 6.5m.  



Also on display is a fossil of the Isisford Tarpon, a fish which lived about 150million years ago.  This fossil, found in the 1990s, was about 1.2m long although they are known to have grown up to 2.5m long.  The bulldog fish fossil was found in 2005 and a 3D life sized model was created for display.



Our 5 days here have been very relaxing and tomorrow we're off to the regional centre of Longreach, about 100km away.