Little and Large (part 2)

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Next we headed across the road to the National Dinosaur Museum. From the outside it looked as if it was just aimed at kids as the forecourt was full of life-sized dinosaur models and you even walked through a huge toothy T-Rex mouth to enter.

Inside, though, it was very well laid out with display cases full of fossils tracing the eras from the oldest, 4700 million years ago, to the emergence of man, 2.5 million years ago. They particularly pointed out the Australian fossils and showed how they compared to more well known ones. Each display was well labelled and had some really interesting and surprising information presented in a simple, friendly and accessible way, whatever your age.

We spent ages reading the placards and Barry faced off against a Parasaurolophus Walker, from the Cretaceous Period. The horn on the head could be almost 2 metres long and is thought to be used for communication. Not sure how - maybe it acts like a megaphone. Its face was twice as big as Barry's!

There were also quite a few animatronic dinosaurs that roared and threatened us as we passed and more than 20 full skeletons, including huge pterosaurs. Some of the displays had a range of items like real dinosaur bones and fossilised wood that you could touch. Then just as we thought we’d finished, we passed into the shop and were gob-smacked at the amazing range of fossils and gemstones that they had on sale. Some were enormous,especially one gem encrusted ammonite the size of a table. Unfortunately they had equally enormous price tags, too! Brent would have spent a fortune, if he’d been there!

Tucked behind the shop we discovered an area which had some mammoths. We were surprised to learn that not all were woolly or huge. There were also ones that had no more hair than elephants and one, full-sized, but no bigger than a juvenile elephant.

Amazingly, my knees and back had held up well, although we did keep having breaks, but when I got back to the van at 6 o’clock and put my feet up to drink a coffee, I promptly fell asleep. Must be getting old!! It was all fun, though.

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Photos

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
A very dangerous front yard!

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
Barry facing off against a Parasaurolophus Walker (well his head anyway).

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
A T Rex animatronic model that moved its head and arms and roared loudly.

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
Some of the amazing fossils available for sale in the shop.

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
This fabulous mineral encrusted ammonite was more than a metre across each side. If I remember correctly, it was about $2,500.

National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
A small breed of mammoth (he is full sized) standing beside a more recogniseable huge mammoth skull.