Rowena, Oscar and Grandad’s Dinosaur Trail Expedition (also known as Row and Dad’s Pie Tasting Tour) – Part 2

On day 4 we headed into Hughenden to the FJ Holden Cafe which, according to Oscar, had awesome hotdogs and the Flinders Discovery Centre.  Lots of interesting displays at both of these places, with the Flinders Discovery Centre containing other local historical information in it beyond dinosaurs.  We then headed off to Richmond which was I think, my favourite town on the Dinosaur Trail. Once upon a time (a hundred million years or so ago), Richmond was in the middle of an inland sea, so there are plenty of marine fossils to see here.  This is Kronosaurus Corner. 

 He’s a big boy isn’t he?  We stayed next to Lake Fred Tritton that night in a nice caravan park.  We wandered through the Bush Tucker Garden and then Oscar lost his basketball in the lake and nearly fell in whilst retrieving it.  What fun!  The next day we went fossicking.  We were very excited about the possibility of unearthing previously unidentified dinosaur remains!  

Unfortunately, the best we did was find some pretty stones and what looked like a fossilised fish tail imprint.  Better than nothing and a great experience!  To Winton we now go forth where perhaps we’ll fossick for opals instead.

Yes!  We find a convenient place to “dig” for opals right on the main street.  Fancy that!  Oops, mum has to get out of the dig pit – it’s only for kids. L  Oscar having barrels of fun though (stoopid kids, grumble, grumble) and we have to drag him away to find a place to camp for the night.  He’s hammered out a couple of good samples to bring with him though.  

In the morning we hit (quite literally) the Musical Fence and then onto the Diamantina Heritage Truck & Machinery Museum. 

Oscar liked this old fire truck the best.

Grandad is as happy as a pig in mud!  Much more interesting than those silly old dinosaurs!  Next, we headed on into the Waltzing Matilda Centre.  The first thing we saw was a performance enacting the Waltzing Matilda song.  Great show but why anybody would say this should be our National Anthem is an irritating mystery to me – it’s about a thief who commits suicide!   Anyway, the Centre was very interesting but I think we all got a bit of a case of brain overload.  There was just too much to take in all at once.  We probably should have split it across two days. 

We motored off towards Lark Quarry that afternoon, hoping to spend the night at Windermere Station.  Sadly the roads into the station were poorly signed and maintained, and proved impassable for the 5^th wheeler.  Happily though, this spot right near the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede National Monument where we did spend the night was spectacularly beautiful.  

Well, what can I say about Lark Quarry?  It’s in the middle of nowhere, over rough roads and there is no food or fuel out there.  Is it actually worth the dusty drive?  YES!!!  Wow.  Just amazing.  Even Grandad found this dinosaur place fascinating!  Big footprints, little footprints, medium sized footprints and teeny weeny footprints all right there together.  It somehow feels “real” here.  The centre itself is a bit of a marvel too, being architecturally designed to maintain atmospheric balance to allow optimal preservation of the fossilised trackways whilst being ecologically sustainable.  In such a harsh climate (temperatures range from 0^oC-50^oC) and in a location with no infrastructure of services available, it really gives me hope for an environmentally responsible future.  All buildings should be like this!