Dinosaur Canyon - A New Experience

April 15, 2017 marks the day that the Dinosaur Canyon at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum was officially opened by Dame Quentin Bryce, previous Governor General of Australia and Patron of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.












We were lucky to be able to accept the invitation to the Grand Opening and Celebration Dinner because we could arrange our trip to include a few days in Winton.  We last visited Winton and the AAOD Museum on the Jump-Up in September 2016 when the Bushtracker Owners Group held their Annual Muster in Winton.  This time we made a special trip to be part of the celebrations.












Dinosaur Canyon is Stage 3 of the Museum, and it's SPECTACULAR.  As with the Reception Building and Collection Room, the architecture reflects its location on the Jump-Up in both colours and textures.

The Outpost building houses amenities and seating and provides the entry to the 300m walkway and the exhibits.  The interpretive panels for each exhibit have a brass etching where visitors are encouraged to rub/trace an impression of the dinosaur into their guidebook using a soft pencil.  There is also a free audio guide and an app available to enhance the visitor experience.

The Death in the Billabong exhibit shows how the bones of dead dinosaurs would be scattered around the billabong as scavengers scattered flesh and bones over a large area.

The Valley of the Cycads features a number of huge Zamia palms believed to be 700-800 years old.

The Pterodactylus, Dinosaur Stampede and Kunnbarrasaurus Exhibits feature life sized bronze replicas.

The Dinosaur Stampede Exhibit reflects the Dinosaur Trackways which can be seen at Lark Quarry.

Traveling in Queensland - again

We have guests staying at Rainforest Estate for a few weeks so we've taken the opportunity to take our caravan to Bushtracker in Maroochydore for a service and "health check".  We've been lucky enough to dodge the bullet that was Cyclone Debbie (the caravan was in Townsville at the time).  The resulting "tropical low" has caused mayhem as it travelled south with storms, rain and flooding.  Some of the roads are still closed as we travel south and road trains are taking alternate routes as they try to get through to the major cities of Mackay and Rockhampton and smaller towns along the coastal strip.

It's great to be back into the red dirt and we're passing through many of our favourite places as we drive west from Townsville, through Charters Towers where we turn south onto the Gregory Development Road towards Emerald.  We had a brief stop at Capella with its street art and bottle trees before continuing on to Emerald, Roma, Miles and Kingaroy before arriving in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.  We had to take the "scenic route" due to road closures east of Emerald.





The Emerald Dragon was sculpted from recycled metals by artist Jase Moore.








After dipping our toes into the big smoke and commercialisation of the Sunshine Coast, we aimed our vehicle north-west.  We're heading to Winton in Central Queensland - about as central as you can get - for the opening of the new Dinosaur Canyon at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in a week's time.  I'll cover that in a separate post.  Meanwhile we're back on the road travelling northwards through Eidsvold, home of the JM Williams Learning Centre, to Moura where we camped on the banks of the Dawson River which was still pretty full from the floods.

Then it was on to Rolleston and Springsure and then to Tambo, home of the Tambo Teddies (made from Aussie wool, by local Aussies).

The road from Springsure to Tambo took us through spectacular scenery along the northern side of the Carnarvon Range.  We have often travelled along the eastern side and into the national park, but this was a first for us and although it's a dirt road it's highly recommended if you have a 4WD vehicle and robust caravan.

From Tambo we travelled through Blackall towards Barcaldine, birthplace of the Australian Labor Party. About 25km south of Barcaldine we turned off the road into the Lara Wetlands Station.  This campground came highly recommended and we can only say we'll definitely be back!!

What a beautiful, peaceful place to spend a few days.  Plenty of birdlife and lots of space to just relax.  A bonus is the therapeutic hot pool which is fed from the Great Artesian Basin.  At about 40C it's just like a huge hot bath.

After we left Lara it was about 300km to Winton where we had booked in to the Tattersalls Hotel Caravan Park for 3 days.  A good opportunity to stock up the fridge and do the washing.

From Winton we aimed east towards Townsville.  About halfway we camped overnight at the Prairie Pub Campground.  It's worth visiting the pub with its quirky decor.  Tom and Andrea are great hosts.  Their pet is very friendly too.

The blade diameter of the Comet Windmill at Prairie is 34feet (about 10 m).

More from Far North Queensland

When we left Townsville in mid-January 2017 we were joined by family for a visit to Rainforest Estate.  Of course we included some visits to local tourist attractions.



Hartley's Crocodile Adventure, north of Cairns, provided good entertainment with plenty of crocodiles on show.

A day trip into the Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation is also a "must-do" for any visitors to this part of Australia.  We're lucky that we can be into this Gondwana Wilderness area within an hour.

We like to stop off at a tropical fruit orchard.  This time the breadfruit trees were loaded with fruit.  We also like to indulge in the delicious tropical fruit ice-cream served at the small shop.

In February we've had some interesting visitors to Rainforest Estate.

Beautiful Golden Orb Spiders weave their huge webs and we often have to relocate them from our patio areas.  The leg span of these beauties can exceed 15cm with their body length 5-6cm long (about as big as my little finger).

During the rainy season, bush frogs like to lay their eggs in the fresh water that forms a layer on the top of the salt-water in the swimming pool.  The eggs don't hatch though so we are not swimming amongst tadpoles!

 Not all of our "visitors" are welcome inside.  We've had to relocate some baby tree snakes that thought it would be nice to get out of the rain.  There's a reason why we keep the doors shut - to keep the rainforest outside where it belongs.  These snakes are only about as thick as a pencil and they can wriggle in through the gaps under the doors






It's the wet season from November to April and we have rain nearly every day.  Temperatures are around 30C and it's very humid.  The rain stops around late April and we will be back to perfect weather again - for about 6 months until the next wet season.  Until then the air-conditioning stays on to keep the humidity down.

When it rains, it really rains!  The rivers rise and flood and we can be cut off.  We have a small river and bridge at the entrance to the property and nearby Anich's Bridge is our link to the outside world.  Anich's Bridge (centre)  has been flooded a couple of times.  When this photo was taken it was under 1.5m of water.  Luckily the water subsides as quickly as it rises.




We love the plants around the property.  Some of our favourites are the lipstick palms with their bright red stems and the unusual black bat-flowers.

Just south of Cairns, near Gordonvale is an interesting mountain, The Pyramid.  It's well named and at 922m it's a real landmark.  Each year in October there is a foot race to the top.  Not something we are likely to attempt, but we admire those who do, and especially those who make it to the top!