Day 12 - Winton, on the Dino Trail!
Monday, 17 September 2012
Time to check out this little town, Winton. Waltzing Matilda centre -I am a bit over 'memorabilia' centers, however, the history of Qantas starting here was interesting. Felt the tickets were very over priced, but it did give you a couple of disconts in town, firstly a free beer with a meal at The North Gregory Hotel. A delightful place full of art deco furniture and light fittings, and is meant to be the first place Banjo played Waltzing Matilda! Then a tour of a craft centre/ memorabilia/ Dino place - knitted toilet roll covers, plastic Dino's and fossils:). Then the delightful open air cinema. Gave a real feel for life in the town during the 40s and 50s. The front portion of floor was also used as a roller skating rink! The back film room was lined with all the old posters, Greta Garbo, John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe. Could just hear my mum and dad, saw that one, loved that one, etc.
After stocking up at the Spar 'supermarket' we headed off to Orlando's fruit and vege place to get 5% discount. Huh, I thought small country towns were friendly. Nearly got my head bitten off by Mrs Orlando, because i hadnt shown my 5% discount ticket before i started shopping! I was gob smacked - she was so aggressive about it, PAV and I just stood there like stunned mullets, there was no way we were getting 5% off. After paying (full price :) I decided to point that she had charged me full price for a discounted bag of green beans, so I asked for a copy of the receipt. Well, when I pointed out her mistake, she went in for another go at us. He, he, what a laugh. Talking about it later, we decided that the reason she needed to see our discount ticket before she ran things through the till could be because she had a different price list (+5%). What a con, but we had a right old laugh.
Headed out to the Trail of the Dinosaur museum. This is about 20km out of town and on top of a Jump Up - Mesa. A rammed earth, aesthetically pleasing design nestled on the edge of the cliff. It was a thoroughly well done place. A great scramble/walk/climb down and along the base of the cliff. Partly a climb because PAV led me astray:). But it was a place that inspired visions of Dino's roaming the plains below, or even hiding behind giant boulders (that I had to clamber over). The laboratory tour at the other end was extremely well done, and it was interesting to meet 'Matilda', 'Dicksie' and a few other ancient relics. The paleo's working there were very knowledgable and passionate about their work. You could also work as a volunteer, but it would cost you a donation of $2000, however, that did include food and board! They had a couple of volunteers sitting at the work benches painstakingly slowly, with what looked like a dentist drill, separating stone from bone! A real paleo had a box of 'pieces' of bone, trying to fit them together, a bit like putting a jigsaw together, however, you don't know how many pieces are missing, or what the final thing should look like!
Eventually the show was over, oh yes we then went back to the main centre to be shown a tour of the cleaned up, pieced together, real actual bones (in other museums what you see is usually replicas). The young man explaining all this to us was so excited about the real ness of them, spoke almost reverently about Matilda, Elliot, Wade, Banjo, McKenzie! There is passion for you.
Driving back down the Mesa (jump down) there were dark clouds in the distance, quite dramatic. Hope we don't get rained on tonight! Would be the first rain since Perth.
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