makin'tracks

Martin imitating Priscilla. He was fined Muttaburrasaurus 3 - 15 July 2016

Martin’s opening comments …… Trip Leaders It would have been about 6 months before this trip that Julie Martin & Julie Dalmazzio 200 Series diesel and I were talking about finishing off our Darling River run which had been rain interrupted in 2012. A friend had also expressed Participants interest in seeing the trail in Central Queensland. We Phil & Cheryl Meade 200 Series diesel knew that any such trip would be limited to 2 weeks so we ditched Lutz Stollwerk & Ines Seringer 100 Series diesel the Darling and focused on the fossils and subsequently came up with the idea of looking for a live Muttaburrasaurus which Graham, Dianne & Luke Hobb 100 Series petrol we could barbeque it to see what it would taste like. Hence the Sue & Brian Bailey 150 Series diesel Muttaburrasaurus BBQ Tour 2016 was born. Leanne & John Alessi 120 Series diesel The trip was always planned to be as easy as possible regarding the daily distances and to also provide the opportunity for any Frank Arico & My Lae 80 Series diesel trip member to take over the trip leading for a day. A Sergeant- Colin Faith & Monica Hope BT50 diesel at-Arms was appointed from the start and at the pre-trip get- together each trip participant was issued a cap which proudly proclaimed them to be part of the Muttaburrasaurus BBQ Tour your daily destination, set up your camp and then gather to 2016. Hawaiian shirts became our uniform for reasons that have a bit of a yarn. Usually everyone brings along some nibbles escape us (grin) and if you look at some of the high profile online to share. What can happen is that everyone turns up with an recipe sites you will see recipes for Muttaburrasaurus Stew and entire delicatessen in tow and so bang goes dinner. Happy Hour Australian Style Sticky Muttaburrasaurus ribs!. scheduling does away with this by assigning responsibility for provision of the happy hour nibbles to vehicles on a rotating Camp oven cooking featured on several nights with some terrific basis. creations being served up and two practices introduced to us that we would commend to anyone running a trip. Trivia Quizzes We didn’t find a live Muttaburrasaurus. We did find a bunch of where a trip participant assembles a quiz, possibly using a new friends. This is their story, Martin and Julie. source such as the Saturday paper quiz section with the quiz Sunday 3rd July: Wellington to Bourke - Phil & Cheryl being run as we drive along. It could take half an hour, serves Martin and Julie’s trip commenced at the Riverside Caravan Park as entertainment and for all to monitor everyone else’s alertness. in Wellington. The first day was an easy to Bourke (400km) and The other commended practice was Happy Hour scheduling. was a great introduction to a fun and most enjoyable two weeks. Happy Hour of course is that time of the day where you reach For us, it would be only our second, in many trips over many in the Club, where at the outset we were not anticipating 36 TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 makin'tracks

Spending time with Muttaburrasaurus at Muttaburra

the use of 4WD at any stage. This was fine, as it presented another focus to driving, chasing the dinosaur trail in Qld. According to the Queensland Museum website, Muttaburasaurus is: “Named after the town of Muttaburra in Central Qld, Muttaburrasaurus langdoni was discovered by local grazier Doug Langdon. Muttaburrasaurus lived around 100 million years ago, during the period. It was a , with rows of grinding teeth. Several specimens of this dinosaur have been found in central and northern Qld, and a few teeth have been found in . Muttaburrasaurus was about 7m long, weighed about 3 tonnes and probably ate plants such as ferns, and conifers and may have lived in herds.” In view of the age of a Muttaburasaurus, the prospect of its 4WD only out of Muttaburra BBQ seemed remote, yet Martin and Julie’s 14 enthusiastic disciples were certainly there to “give it a go”. Bourke’s Kidmans Camp Caravan Park was Martin’s choice for the night’s stop. exercised our brains with the trivia quiz which was organised by Andrew Hull’s Poetry on a Plate provided good campfire food our temporary trip leaders. and entertainment. School holidays in Qld and NSW made for a full-house. The caravan park at Augathella is basic while functional. It boasts true drive through sites, clean amenities and a large covered Monday 4th July: Bourke to Augathella - Julie & Martin seating area with picnic tables. We enjoyed the Happy Hour Martin appointed Brian and Sue as Trip Leaders for the day with hosted by Frank. Lutz taking over as Sergeant-at-Arms. It was a good, straight Tuesday 5th July: Augathella to Winton - Julie & Martin forward run of 530kms under an overcast sky up to Augathella. Along the way we saw evidence of recent heavy rains with the Up early and away by 0830. The roads today were long and road verges having flowing water in them. We also drove through straight, our travelling companions were B-triples, the scenery the occasional heavy shower. Morning tea was at Barringun on flat and magnificent. Although not a stopping point along the way, the border where we chatted with the lady in the store and later Tambo caught everyone’s eye as an extremely pretty and tidy we enjoyed a short lunch in Wyandra. Of note was the amount town. of road kill that was evident almost as soon as we crossed the That afternoon, a tired bunch pulled in Winton and after setting border which saw us dodging many carcasses. After lunch we up camp we adjourned to the Tattersall’s Hotel across the road TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 37 makin'tracks

Handing over our collected fines to the RFDS at Longreach

Walking Australian Age of

Fossil hunters at work

Processing dinosaur fossils at Australian Age of Dinosaurs for a great dinner in a private room with hilarious entertainment Back in Winton there were no more group activities before Happy from Frank and Bluey. Hour. There was the idea to go to the movies in the evening to Wednesday 6th July: Winton - Lutz & Ines see some old films and ads. Unfortunately the venue cancelled for that night. Due to the location of the caravan park next to the road train bypass of Winton, not everybody had a good night sleep. Today Thursday 7th July: Winton & Lark Quarry - Graham, Dianne & we are going to see our first dinosaurs! At 0930 our group was Luke on its way to The Australian Age of Dinosaurs about 24kms We left at 0800 from Tattersall’s Caravan Park Winton to drive outside of Winton. to Lark Quarry which is 120km away. The site of the only known With a little delay as our fearless trip leader first misses the turn- dinosaur stampede in the world. The road is mostly dirt and at off, our convoy climbs up onto a large mesa where the museum is times quite rough. There are no facilities en route and we arrived located. We are welcomed by a dinosaur statue at the entrance. about 0930. In the “Collection Room” our guide Tom showed us three dinosaur The museum is brilliant and easily accessable for young and old. skeletons. Winton is the place where Banjo Paterson wrote his We were introduced to our tour guide, Tanya, who seated us in famous Waltzing Matilda. So they called the first skeleton Banjo, a small theatre where we watched a very informative 15 minute a male carnivore dinosaur. Matilda is the name of the second video presentation about the theory of the dinosaur stampede. skeleton from a pretty huge, female plant eating dinosaur. Next we moved into the large, enclosed area to see the actual Compared to her thigh bone, a cow’s thigh bone is little. footprints of the stampeding dinosaurs which was a truly unique experience, we had ample time to explore them. Some of our As all the bones were found on David Elliott’s property the third party struck off along short and long walking tracks in the area. skeleton is called Elliott. But nobody knows if these bones are There was a lovely coffee and souvenir shop on site and clean from a male or female dinosaur, if it was one or more or even if facilities. We left at 1130 to head back to Winton for free time. they are from the same species. Friday 8th July: Hughenden - Sue & Brian After a short walk with beautiful views into the Winton flat we are at the “Lab” where Alan waited. He shows us the unprepared I’m sure we were all woken at approximately 5am by the truck fossil storage, many prepared fossils, two meteorites also found warming its engine across the road and the cock crowing. on the Elliott property and the fossil preparation area. With Consequently we rolled away 12 minutes before Martin’s dentist’s drills, volunteers remove any unwanted stone from a appointed time of 0830. fossil until it is ready for display. TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 39 makin'tracks

Where are we question mark (Barringun)

Martin started the day off with a rendition of his recently penned kinds of giant dinosaurs, marine reptiles and microscopic skeletal poem ‘Ode to Winton’. Cheryl followed this with the second of remains of plankton like creatures can be located in this district. her quizzes. The questions seemed a bit easier today as I think The museum has a large collection of local fossils from the there were less ‘knuckle draggers’ (people with poor scores). cretaceous inland sea that covered Qld 120 million years Julie spotted a pile of railway sleepers about 50 metres off the ago. It has a laboratory and preparation room. Discovery of road. A quick detour was made and 3 were loaded onto Lutz’s the Richmond pliosaur on “Marathon Station” in 1989 was truck and 1 on Graham’s. These were needed for the camp oven the catalyst for building the museum. The 100 million old cooking that night. pliosaur is the prime example of a vertebrae reptile fossil. The We arrived in Hughenden and proceeded to set ourselves up fossil is almost complete and over four metres long. For me, this in the caravan park, our nicest park so far with a lovely camp was their collection’s highlight. It’s almost incomprehensible. kitchen, amenities and a fire pit. Most of us then headed for the The guided tour of the centre with interpretation manager, curator Flinders Discovery Centre. Here we learnt about the history of the and paleontologist Dr Patrick Smith was most interesting. At Flinders Shire (first settled in 1863), the formation of Porcupine 1110, we left following Patrick in convoy along a track north to Gorge, the history of the sheep industry in the area and of course our first dig location. It had now reached a beautiful 28°C. Our the history of the dinosaurs. A very well put together centre. enthusiastic want-to-be paleontologists were keen and quick to Tonight was the much anticipated camp oven cook up. Martin begin their search for predominantly sea life fossils. A number of donned his chainsaw safety gear and cut up a couple of the fine fossils were located, which they were able to retain for their railway sleepers. Martin and Julie had bought lamb, beef and personal collection. veggies plus Brian had a piece of pork belly. Before too long we An hour later, we headed further north where we came upon a had coals and the camp ovens were sizzling away. A sumptuous small flock of brolgas at a waterhole. This was my first experience feast (including crackling on the pork belly) was served. This was seeing them in the wild! We gained entry to another cattle station followed by a magnificent apple cobbler cooked in a camp oven and it had now reached 30°C. The dig site on this occasion by Cheryl. A great way to finish off dinner. was a dry creek bed which revealed more marine fossils and Saturday 9th July: Hughenden & Richmond - Leanne & John petrified wood. This was our most northern point of our entire We were awoken about 0600 to the serenading of a currawong trip. In terms of location, we were on the same latitude as Bowen sitting in the tree above our camper. Birdlife abounds, including (200km south of Townsville). rainbow lorikeets, sulphur-crested cockatoos, corellas, ravens By 0320 it was time to make tracks back toward our “digs”. On and currawongs. the way back, we encountered a wedge-tailed eagle and a large We headed to Richmond, 120km west of Hughenden to visit flock of galahs. Later, we came upon three more wedge-tailed Kronosaurus Korner Museum and venture onto dig sites rarely eagles feasting on road kill and passed a couple of freight trains accessed by the public with an experienced paleontologist. All which ran on the railway parallel to the road.

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Sculpture at Muttaburra

We returned to Hughenden Caravan Park at 0550 where it had cooled to 27°C. Some of us chose to dine at the Great Western Hotel in town. John and I took the opportunity to pop into the F J Holden Café – a unique café which offered some wonderful automotive memorabilia. Sunday 10th July: Hughenden to Muttaburra - Phil & Cheryl The objective of today was to reach Muttaburra, the home of Muttaburrasaurus. This provided our best taste during the trip of Qld outback roads, with nearly 180km of the total 205km being good compacted dirt. Who would have thought a small town in Central Qld would be so Dr Patrick Smith. Curator at Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond inviting to tourists? The Exchange Hotel, run by two Kiwis, was friendly and provided good pub food. The camp facilities were fine and as a sweetener, if you stay and pay for two nights, the third and fourth are free. Local public art (check-out the shearer), historical sites and museums were attractions for our group. Monday 11th July: Muttaburra to Ilfracombe - Sue & Brian The day dawned with the birds waking us up, with a lovely fresh, soft smell in the air and Martin had a flat tyre. The decision had been made to have a late start from Muttaburra so we could support the local community for coffee at Aunty Fiona’s general store and have a good look around. Some went to the old Hospital Museum where Leighton, a young local, gave us a great tour. Interestingly the first doctor in the town in 1908 was a women, she would have been a rarity back Ammonite fossil at Richmond 42 TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 makin'tracks

Lutz & Ines travelling economy

Getting up close and personal with a 747 at Qantas Founders Museum, Longreach Touring the 747 at Qaltas Founders Museum - Longreach

then. Some went to Cassimatis Museum and Cottage. This gave a wonderful glimpse into how tough it was in earlier times. Five children were raised in the cottage which wasn’t much more than a corrugated iron shack. After lunch at the pub, we rolled away at 1230 with promises to return. The town is hoping that the planned Dinosaur Interpretive Centre will be built within a couple of years. After 2 hours on the road of a mixture of red dirt and black top, we arrived at Ilfracombe Caravan Park. While we were all very tightly packed in, everyone was very friendly. After Happy Hour and fines session we were very well entertained by Cathy, one of the proprietors of the park. She gave a great community since the last resident of the home died on the front rendition of a number of poems and stories. Most of us then porch in 1991. That evening after Happy Hour, we dined as a stayed on and had dinner in the Shed. full group for the last time at the Wellshot Hotel next door to the Tuesday 12th July: QANTAS Founders Museum - John & Leanne caravan park. After a short journey we arrived at the QANTAS Founders Wednesday 13th July: School of the Air & Stockman’s Hall of Outback Museum in Longreach in time for our private guided Fame - Martin & Julie tour. The weather warmed to an enjoyable 30°C as our guide Peter took the group through the museum and out onto the Today dawned overcast and cold. Colin and Moni had left earlier tarmac where he explained the operation of their 200 series that morning to return home and prepare for another club trip. Boeing 747 VH-EBQ. We then toured the Boeing 707 VH-XBA, After breakfast we drove the short distance into Longreach to which although bearing its original QANTAS external livery had the School of the Air. After a short video presentation, we were been converted to an executive configuration and used by the able to tour the facilities and actually see classes in action. The Saudi Ambassador to the United States then later as a private jet use of multi-media and technology is extensive in bringing quality by the Jackson family. education to students located in remote areas. After returning to Ilfracombe we toured the Langenbaker home, Next stop was to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame to see a very which had remained untouched and been preserved by the entertaining show featuring 3 very smart horses and 3 very smart TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 43 makin'tracks

dogs all working together with a very talented singing Dr Patrick Smith. Curator at Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond and guitar playing stockman. Afterwards we toured the Y extensive displays covering early life on the land, the beginnings of technology in the outback and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). CA OR DROP IN TODA Later we called into the RFDS office in town and presented them with the accumulated cash from our daily fine 02 9A6T 0DE2VL IN1 5CL0OS2E sessions run by our outstanding Sergeant-at-Arms, all 1/11 P $164.35 worth. They were quite happy to receive it and CHIIING NORTON, NSW enthralled as to how we collected it. We waved goodbye after a group picture with the RFDS staff on the footpath. Free time for all this afternoon was variously spent looking at other attractions, shopping or reading a book. Thursday 14th July: Ilfracombe to Cunnamulla - Graham, Dianne & Luke We left at 0800 while raining and only 11°C. The roads were sealed and straight all the way to Cunnamulla 686km Getting the firewood ready at away. We stopped at 1000 for our morning tea at Blackall, Muttaburra a lovely spot with clean amenities and a great coffee shop with scones. It was still raining as we arrived for lunch at the Augathella roadhouse for yummy burgers and chips, then on the road again heading towards Charleville. We WEST SYDNEYS had a stop at Wyandra at 0345 for a stretch and a take SOUTH away coffee. Kangaroos were everywhere when we arrived at Cunnamulla at 0510. We had a lovely dinner at the Cunnamulla Hotel, very clean, great food and the hosts were very friendly. BIIEST Note by Martin & Julie: In Cunnamulla we stayed at the Warrego Riverside Caravan Park and it was a delight. OFFROAD SPECIALIST True drive through sites, wonderful amenities with wood 4WD AAEEORIESAIRS paneling throughout, a great camp kitchen, a huge MECHANICAL REP communal fire pit and all on the banks of the beautiful NEW & USED ENGINES Warrego River complete with resident pelicans. The lady If you need to go, go to Barringun Martin talking with Mary Crawley. in the office was very helpful. We have listed it for a definite HUGE WORKSHOP Oldest publican in NSW revisit on future trips. & FIIING BAYS

Brian showing off the hat.... and talking

‘IT’s YOUR ONE STOP OOROAD SHOP’

Muttaburra TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 45 makin'tracks

Australian Style Sticky Muttaburrasaurus Ribs In front of Kronosaurus at Richmond QLD Ingredients: 60 kgs tomato sauce Friday 15th July – Cunnamulla to Narromine - Julie & Martin 30 kgs Australian Bee honey After departing we had a short 90 minute drive weaving and 9 litres Flintstones Soy Sauce dodging the roadkill to Barringun for a coffee. Although it was 8 litres malt vinegar only 0930 in the morning, Martin then approached the Tattersall’s 14 kgs brown sugar Hotel in Barringun as he was keen on procuring a stubby holder for 12 kgs powdered mustard his collection. On the verandah 1800 kgs Muttuburrasaurus ribs of the hotel was none other than Vegetable oil (lots), for deep-frying Mary Crawley, the publican. In her 1400 Sebago potatoes, peeled, very thinly sliced 90’s, Mary still runs the hotel and was an absolute delight to talk to. Dressed spinach leaves, to serve She introduced us to Gidgee her Method: dog and Chook the cockatoo who displayed a use of some of the Combine tomato sauce, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, more saucy words of the English mustard and salt and pepper in a ceramic dish. Add ribs language. She then invited us all and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. into the bar to view the various Preheat camp oven to 200°C. Place ribs on roasting tray. memorabilia on display. With Roast for 1 hour or until cooked through, turning ribs over stubby holder on board, we bid once. Meanwhile, place a wire rack over an oven tray lined Sergeant-at-Arms recreating a with paper towel. Pour oil into a large saucepan until Mary farewell and continued on. fineable sin one-third full. Heat over medium to high heat until hot. Cook We passed through many more kilometres of Australian potato slices, 5 or 6 at a time for 2 to 3 minutes or until bush interspersed with towns big and small before arriving at golden. Drain on wire rack. Serve ribs with potato crisps Narromine. We stayed at the Narromine Tourist Park and Motel and spinach. which boasted excellent amenities and real grass! We asked about dining facilities in town and as luck would have it, Friday Tip: Juvenile Muttaburrasaurus have been reported as night is meal night at the Aero Club right next door to the caravan being more tender, but please remember that the minimum park. We all trooped in there for a very nice meal during which we “keep” size is 1060kgs and bag limit is 3 per hunter per day. toasted the success of the trip and Martin formally announced it’s conclusion. TLCC NEWS DECEMBER 2016 47