WA trip winter 2011: Winton and Lark Quarry

Stopping at a rest stop on our trip to Winton, a road train with three large containers pulled in beside us and John asked the driver what he was carrying. One container had plasterboard, another was empty and the third was a refrigerated container of chicken heads going to Darwin to feed the crocodiles at the croc farms. Well, if you don’t ask you will never know.

Syd along side the road train.

We are here at Matilda Country Caravan Park for three nights. There are two lady bush poets on every night and a roast dinner. I ordered a dinner for one night, it saves me cooking. We sat with some new friends to see the show, a few drinks and a few laughs. John and I are booked on a tour tomorrow to Lark Quarry, a recent find of dinosaur footprints during a stampede millions of years ago, now preserved and developed into a tourist attraction. The tour leaves at 8am for the 110klms trip and returns about 1pm. Google Lark Quarry if you would like to learn more.

Some friends we met and the lady bush poet in front.

Today we looked around the attractions in town, driving also out to Long Waterholes, a lovely oasis in this open grassy landscape. It’s very flat country out here, although it’s hot this time, we stayed in Winton before when there was a chilly wind blowing. On the way out to the waterholes, we came across a bustard, a large bird all on his own but a bit timid, so he was too far into the long grass before I could get a good photo. I managed his back view. We had seen one in the Northern Territory before, so we recognized him instead of pulling the bird book out this time.

The trip to Lark Quarry was 110 klms, at least half was gravel road, In the 60’s a grazier asked someone to come out and look at bird prints he had found. Little did he know he had discovered the world’s only recorded dinosaur stampede. 95 million years ago, small dinosaurs were at a waterhole when a large dinosaur attacked the group, sending them into a frenzy. There are hundreds of small and large footprints ranging from chicken sized to emu to almost elephant sized, preserved under cover at what is now known as Lark Quarry. We were given a guided tour and learnt more about this very unique period in history.

We saw a wild pig with piglets by the side of the road, little wallaroos and some more bustards, or plains turkey as they are called out this way. A road train passed us and kicked up a lot of dust, of course our driver slowed down and edged to the side of the road. Road trains are king!

Today it was 30c, it’s supposed to be winter!

The bustard.