Day 89: Sat 23 Jul - Winton
5 (felt like 1.5) to 25 deg. Another cold morning, sunny and no clouds and only a very slight breeze at times throughout the day. After a leisurely start to the day, part 3 of our Dinosaur Trail tour began with a 110km drive from Winton to the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument at Lark Quarry Conservation Park. The first 50km was along bumpy, uneven but sealed road. The first 40 kms was very picturesque, with a variety of shades of lush green savannah grass and speckles of wildflowers showing through in the morning sun, and there was an abundance of birdlife - recent rains have been good. The thick flocks of bright green grass parrots were amazing. The remaining 60km to Lark Quarry was a combination of narrow sealed and unsealed road with minor corrugations in places, but overall it was reasonable road and the KMs seemed to pass quickly. We arrived at 10:20am, well ahead of our scheduled 11:00am tour time. We checked in, and had enough time to wander up to a lookout with amazing views across a very different landscape to which we have seen so far. The Tour included a 30 minute presentation explaining the stampede and then another 20 min inside a building looking at the dinosaur trackways formed 95 million years ago. It is quite a remarkable piece of forensic work that has been done since the excavation in 1976-77, to provide the theory about the stampede. There are over 3,300 tracks from a herd of about 150 small dinosaurs that were drinking by a lake and were chased by a large carnivorous predator with their footprints in mud preserved over time between layers of sandstone and basalt - the only such stampede uncovered anywhere in the world. It is quite remarkable. Was it worth the 220km round trip for a 45 min presentation and to see footprints in mud? We both agree it was interesting, and enjoyed the tour as well as the drive, so yes it was absolutely worthwhile. Tomorrow, we continue our dinosaur experience with only a 25km drive out of Winton to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs for the Ultimate Dinosaur Tour including a guided tour of a laboratory and collection room and a walk through the Dinosaur Canyon.
We returned to Winton at 1:30pm, and after some lunch and a LLD, I went for a short ride around town to see what else I could find. Being a Saturday afternoon, it was very quiet, but a beautiful warm sunny afternoon for a leisurely ride. Back to the van, I cooked a BBQ dinner in the weber, booked a couple of tours in Longreach and then we had a quiet night. Another great day.
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