This was the kids most anticipated day for the whole of our Outback Queensland Road Trip, a visit to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs!
This morning we had a sleep in because we didn’t have to pack up the camper trailer.
You need to do this when travelling, even more so when travelling with children.
This is so you can enjoy your experiences and you aren’t too tired, all day, every day.
Time to drive to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs!
The drive to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs isn’t a long one, or too hard until you hit the gravel road to head up to the mesa.
A mesa is an elevated area of land that has a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs.
You have to climb and wind a fair bit up to the top of the mesa where the Age of Dinosaurs is located.
You can also tell after driving this road how bad it would be if there has been a bit of rain.
At the time of writing this there is major road works going on in the first section of the road up to the Age of Dinosaurs.
I’m guessing it will be a great road all the way up to the top so tourism and business isn’t effected as much as it is now during rain.
The views on the way up are amazing and they certainly did a great job in picking an amazing iconic location to grow into in the coming years.
When you hit the top there are two car parks, one for cars and one for tours and caravans etc.
While you are trying to find a car park you catch your first glimpse of the Age of Dinosaurs building, and what a building it is!
The architecture fits seamlessly with the surroundings in colour and also design.
We walked into the main entrance without really knowing what to expect.
Caught up in the whirlwind of organising the travel and driving out here I didn’t really know what we would be doing out here.
I thought it would be similar to a walk through museum.
I was wrong.
When inside you line up at the reception and book for the tour packages.
They take about 90 minutes to do both the Collection Room Tour and the Fossil Preparation Laboratory.
You can do one of these tours or both, and also pick the order you do them in too.
The ideal order for us was doing the Collection Room Tour first and then the Fossil Preparation Laboratory Tour after that, then you get the walk in-between to see the sites of the land.
We had to wait for a while as there were quite a few people waiting to go through the tours already.
It was busy today!
It wasn’t bad timing having to wait as the little monsters were ready for something to eat.
The Cretaceous Cafe is up there with food ready to go for you and plenty of seats with a great view of the landscape around and below.
The first part of the Age of Dinosaurs is in the main reception centre and is called the Collection Room Tour.
After you line up outside, you head in the room and take your seats.
The guide then runs through the history of the nicknamed dinosaurs, Banjo and Matilda.
You learn how these dinosaurs came to be in the museum, and what they were doing prior to being fossils.
It was a great experience listening to the stories and also checking out the specimens.
And also you get to watch the documentary “Monsters in the Outback” which is very interesting too.
This part of the Age of Dinosaurs Museum will only grow over the years as it expands and more dinosaurs are completed.
After this part of the tour we were off to the Fossil Preparation Laboratory.
This is only a 500 metre walk for you along the track below.
The Fossil Preparation Laboratory is where they do all the business getting the fossils ready and prepared for showing.
You can walk across to the laboratory like we did or take your car over there as there is a second car park.
We walked as you get to see the great view and also you have half an hour to kill before your next tour starts.
The video above will give you a sense of what the view and the walk is like when you head over to the Fossil Preparation Laboratory.
The original part of the Age of Dinosaurs is this laboratory, and that it is why it is only a simple shed as you can see below.
From little things, big things grow.
The tour is pretty good and you learn how the fossils are found, recovered, and displayed.
There are big dinosaur cocoons on one wall, and all are labelled ready for opening by the technicians.
There is over ten years back log of work here already for the volunteers to get through.
With more discoveries coming in all the time.
You get to see how the fossils are opened ready for the work to be done on them.
And also where the next part of the process is carried out.
This place sounds like ten Dentist’s drills working at the same time, so if you have sensitive teeth, be prepared!
The whole area is going to be even more amazing in years to come.
During the tour you get the run down of the history of the whole place, where it started, where it is now, and where it is heading as well.
So if we ever get back this way (we try not to back track too much), we will have to visit the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum for sure.
If you look at this photo above you can just see the Age of Dinosaurs Reception Centre.
This is how far you have to walk back to the car park after finishing at the laboratory.
The good thing is that the walk gives you another look at the view.
The time had come to drive back to Winton.
We had to fill up the car ready for the day tomorrow at Bladensburg National Park.
There is a Caltex on the edge of town I stopped at as we were heading back into the Waltzing Matilda Centre / Qantilda Centre again to finish off our day.
The petrol prices aren’t too bad here, about the same as they have been for the whole road trip.
I have already written about our visit to the Waltzing Matilda Centre / Qantilda Centre on Day 5, so you can have a look here if you want to, Road Trip Day 5.
While in town and before heading back, we had a quick look at the other caravan parks around Winton.
They are pretty much the same as the Matilda Country Tourist Park, just a bit closer to the main street in town.
Most of the caravan parks fill up at nights and empty out in the mornings.
So it was no surprise getting back and seeing that we had a whole set of new neighbours all around us.
Finally it was time to settle into the night time routine for us, and then sleep.
Winton is growing on us now too, not too bad in the end.
Well done Winton!
Now we are really looking forward to driving out to the National Park tomorrow.
Liked reading this? Head to Day 7 here, Outback Queensland Road Trip Day 7.
Or head back to the start of our trip here, Outback Queensland Road Trip.
What did we do or see today?
Drove out to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs
Australian Age of Dinosaurs
Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive
Landsborough Highway
Winton Qld 4735
Tours start “On the Hour”, a full tour takes 90 minutes with a 30 minute break in-between tours.
The last Collection Room Tour starts at 4pm and the last Fossil Preparation Laboratory Tour starts at 3pm.
Drove back to Winton
Visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre / Qantilda Centre
Waltzing Matilda Centre / Qantilda Centre
50 Elderslie St
Winton QLD 4735
Where did we stay in Winton?
Matilda Country Tourist Park
43 Chirnside St
Winton Qld 4735
P 07 4657 1607
What distance did we drive today?
Winton to Australian Age of Dinosaurs
Total travelled = 25 km
Liked reading this?
Head to Day 7 here, Outback Queensland Road Trip Day 7.
Or head back to the start of our trip here, Outback Queensland Road Trip.
