Dinosaurs in the Outback

The pre-historic giants who roamed the Earth millions of years ago have always fascinated me and the kids are so eager to learn as much as they can about them. So when we decided to travel around Australia we made sure the 3 outback towns of Winton, Hughenden and Richmond, also known as the Dinosaur Trail, were high on our list.

The town of Winton is located in Central West Queensland, 177km northwest of Longreach. It is known as the birthplace of QANTAS, Banjo Patterson wrote Waltzing Matilda and with a significant number of dinosaur fossils found in the area it has gained the tag of Dinosaur Capital of Australia.

Just a short drive, 25.6km out of Winton, is the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, with 3 tours included. Starting at the Fossil Preperation Laboratory, we were shown where the museum first began with the first dinosaur bone discovered on a local farmers property. The process from when the fossil is discovered, excavated, prepared and how it is extracted from the plaster once in the laboratory was so fascinating to learn about and see the processes taking place. 

For those who are interested and would like to be apart of an actual fossil dig, the Australian Age of Dinosaurs does offer this opportunity. They also offer a course to learn how to extract the fossils from rock and plaster and work as a volunteer in the laboratory. We did not get to have these experiences, however they are definitely on our list to do one day. What an amazing opportunity for those who like to be more hands on.

The next tour on the day pass is the Collection Room. This is where they have the fossils of 'Banjo' a Therapod and 'Matilda' a Sauropod on display. The fossils of these 2 dinosaurs were found at the same site, which is very unique. There are a few different theories as to how they ended up buried together. But, I'm not going to ruin your visit by telling you what they are.

The third tour of the day is a shuttle ride around to the March of the Titanosaurs at Dinosaur Canyon. This is a guided section for the sauropod footprints and then you will have free time to walk through Dinosaur Canyon and enjoy the view and the history of the area and dinosaurs found in Central West Queensland.

We enjoyed all of the tours and learnt so much about the Australian dinosaurs and how they lived in what we now call the outback. 

Also out of Winton, approximately km, is the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede. This is the only specimen of its kind in the world. A large Theropod causing a stampede of over ornithopods and coelurosaurs when he came looking for lunch. It is such an amazing piece of history caught in time and is definitely worth the trip. While out there why not take a walk around the jump ups and see some of the fantastic views of the great Australian Outback. For more information and prices to visit the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum or Lark Quarry go to:

www.australianageofdinosaurs.com

   

Approximately 215km North of Winton is the small town of Hughenden. This is the next stop on the dinosaur trail. Hughenden is another area where a number of dinosaur and other prehistoric creatures fossils have been found. A collection of these fossils can be found at the information centre located at the Flinders Discovery Centre. We walked in and were in awe of the size of the Muttaburrasaurus fossil right in the entrance of the museum. It was interesting learning about where the dinosaur was found and what happened with the fossil to get to where it is now. There is also a replica of 'Mutt' the Muttaburrasaurus on the intersection of Stansfield and Gray Street just up from the Flinders Discovery Centre. For more information on the Flinders Discovery Centre go to: 

www.visithughenden.com.au

Head 115km West of Hughenden to reach the town of Richmond. Richmond is the home of Kronosaurus Korner, where there is an abundance of fossils from underwater creatures. There is so much to see at this museum. Several samples of Kronosaurus and ancient fish, squid and other sea creatures which swam in the inland sea millions of years ago. All the fissils dispayed have been found in the Richmond area including a plesiosaur fossil that is 98% complete, the most complete of its kind. 

 

Want to find your own fossils? Well, while staying in Richmond, grab a permit from Kronosaurus Korner, a spade and brush and head out to one of the dig sites about 10km, there you can try your hand at fossicking and you will be amazed by what you will find. We discovered a 100 million year old fish fossil not far beneath the surface. Some of the big fossils from the museum were discovered in these dig sites. For more information and prices to visit Kronosaurus Korner visit:

www.kronosauruskorner.com.au

 

All three towns and all the experiences of Australia's Dinosaur Trail are definitely worth a visit. Prices can all add up for sure if you wanted to do all of the Dinosaur Trails experiences however we found a deal which saved us a few dollars. It is called the Trail Pass and is costs $275 for a family (2 adults and up to 4 children). This pass gives you access to all of the tours at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum, the Lark Quarry Stampede tour, access to Kronosaurus Korner museum and the Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden. For more information and prices on the Trail Pass go to:

http://australiadinosaurtrail.com.au

We really enjoyed our trip around the dinosaur trail and would love to do it again, maybe even add in a fossil dig next time. For more information on prices and tours visit the websites listed above. Hopefully you found this information helpful. If you do decide to go on a dinosaur adventure we hope you have a roaring good time. 

Onward to the next adventure!

Travel Owers

Meet the Travel Owers

Hi there, welcome to our blog. Let me tell you a little bit about us. We are a family of four who had enough of work keeping us apart. Let us introduce ourselves, Rich, Samm, Ella and Ash. We are the Travel Owers.

Rich was a laboratory manager at an asphalt plant and spent long periods away for work and if he was home he was usually on nightshift. He is our Mr. Fixit. If anything breaks he would always try his best to come up with a solution.

Samm is a personal trainer and enjoyed teaching group fitness at the gym. She likes to get the family out and about and exploring no matter how long the walk is.

Ella is in grade 3. She loves school and is always eager to learn. Painting, drawing, reading, riding her bike and swimming are just a few of her favourite things to do.

Ash is in grade 2. He is not the biggest fan of school but will try his hardest. Cars, bike riding, swimming, running around all crazy and annoying his sister are some of his favourite things. 

Now that you know a bit about us, let me tell you why we chose to leave our everyday lives behind and embrace family life on the road.

As mentioned above, Rich was working a lot. He would work away for weeks at a time, which would be extended at the last minute, keeping him away for longer. If he was at home he was on night shift and we would not see him anyway, as he would be asleep during the day. We all missed family time but Rich was missing the kids growing up. He missed birthdays and anniversaries and the day Ella asked why he was home, was the day we decided something had to change.

We started looking at moving house. We found a property out of town, which was everything we thought we wanted. Unfortunately, the market was not in our favour and it sold to someone else. We were back to square one. What to do with our lives to make sure we would spend more time together as a family. After a long stint away, Rich came home and said, "Here's a crazy idea, let's travel Australia."

It was a crazy idea but we both loved it. So that was our next goal. We were going to make it happen. We started researching caravans and looking at maps of Australia and planning out our trip. Rich kept working away, but we were saving every possible cent to make sure we could reach this goal.

It took us a couple of years to plan. We bought our caravan second hand. We were planning on camping in our new van a few times before we renovated it, however after sitting in the caravan for a few hours each day we came up with a design. It took a lot of hard work and late nights but our vision came together and our home on wheels was ready to travel.

Our first couple of nights in the caravan were at my parents property and then it was time to do some weekends away. We gradually made our little stints away longer and further away from home so we could get used to life in the van. We were still working and the kids were still at school and the planning for the trip was still going on in the background. Then we set a date.

We were now packing our home of 10 years into a caravan. Well, what do you take? What do you sell? What do you pack away in storage? We had a lot of stuff which had built up over the years. We had garage sales, we sold items on Facebook, we donated some things to the op shops and the pieces we couldn't part with were packed away and stored at my parents place. (Thanks Mum and Dad).

Our house was rented out 3 months before our leave date. So we moved into the van, living at the caravan park before moving to my parents property for the last 2 months. It came around really fast, we finished working, kids finished school, the caravan was packed. Our lives were about to change and we were embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. 

We are excited to be on the road full time, spend so much more time together as a family, see so many different sights beautiful places, learn new things. It is going to be an amazing experience, and we can't wait to share our travel adventures with you. If you haven't already, follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with our latest updates.