Sun 16/6/2013 Longreach to Winton
As we approached Winton some interesting mesa-shaped hills came into view on our the left hand side. About 10 km before Winton we turned left into the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum. We spent several hours there which included inspecting the laboratory where the fossilized bones are stored until the outside soil can be carefully stripped away with a fine dentist-type drill and then the palaeontologists work on the jigsaw puzzle of bones to reconstruct the creature. The museum is situated on top of a “jump-up” (mesa top) which is a very scenic area, but the bones are found on the black soil plains of the surrounding lowlands .
We pulled into a caravan site in Winton and started arranging our little “nest” for the night.
Mon 17/6/2013 Bladensburg National Park (near Winton)
Washed! Fresh clothes this morning!
Went out to Bladensburg National Park.
The most exciting part was that we went fossicking in a disused mining area and I found 4 nice opal samples.
The most interesting geological formation that we saw in the park was the Skull Hole. Runoff water has eroded a grotto, in a similar way to The Grotto near Wyndam. In the wet season there would be a water fall and a large pool. When we climbed down to the pool area we found a large goanna, close to 6’ long, but quite skinny, guarding the pool. There were swallows nest hanging along the rock overhangs.
The sunset tonight was very spectacular. The :fluffy ”white sheep” that have populated the sky all day turned a brilliant gold, then red and purple.
Tues 18/6/2013 Lark Quarry (Winton)
Lark Quarry, 110 km south of Winton, is famous for the dinosaur footprints that are impressed into the sandstone, which was once the muddy shore of a body of water. We arrived at 11:00am which gave us time to do the 700m walk to the lookout before entering the building which protects the evidence of a dinosaur stampede. The red outcrops of rock and silver green spinifex grass make a very beautiful landscape.
After viewing the footprints and thinking about a very different world than the one we now inhabit we ate a picnic lunch and then set off on the 3.5km walk which does a circuit up and over the “jump up," that is the flat top of the mesa. The views were spectacular. We were unfortunate in that the sun kept disappearing under some very pretty cloud formations so I didn’t get the brightness I wanted for all my photos. The landscape colours varied from red, to brown, yellow and white. It was ochre spread out over a large landscape. I’m glad we saw the dinosaur trackway but if I came again it would be for the landscape.
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