Australia
Winton
Thousands of dinosaur footprints preserve a Cretaceous scene whose cause scientists still debate.
Thousands of dinosaur footprints cross ancient mud near Winton. Their cause remains scientifically debated, but the protected trackways still preserve a dense and remarkable Cretaceous scene.
Winton anchors two major dinosaur experiences in outback Queensland. At Lark Quarry, thousands of fossilised tracks are protected inside a conservation building and interpreted as evidence of a sudden dinosaur movement, while the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum combines fossil preparation, displays and mesa views. In town, the North Gregory Hotel is associated with the first public performance of 'Waltzing Matilda', adding a very different strand of Australian cultural history.
Solo
The mesa museum, protected trackway site and long outback roads reward a traveller drawn to deep time.
Family
Dinosaur footprints, fossil-preparation laboratories and a museum above the plains make palaeontology tangible for children.
- Lark Quarry protects thousands of fossilised dinosaur tracks within a purpose-built conservation structure.
- The Australian Age of Dinosaurs combines working fossil preparation with displays above the plains.
- The North Gregory Hotel is associated with the first public performance of 'Waltzing Matilda'.
- Open mesa country and dark outback skies give the fossil sites a powerful physical setting.
North Gregory Hotel counter meals, beside the place associated with the first public performance of 'Waltzing Matilda' in 1895.
A roadhouse meat pie and chilled drink after the drive to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum.
Suva
Fiji
South Pacific hustle where Hindu temples share streets with Fijian markets and colonial verandahs.
Levuka
Fiji
Fiji's first colonial capital frozen in the 1870s, wooden shopfronts sagging under tropical rain.
São João del-Rei
Brazil
Baroque towers answering each other across a valley, ringing the sex of whoever has just died.
Salvador
Brazil
Drum rhythms ricocheting off colonial walls where song, dance and combat happen at once.
Lady Elliot Island
Australia
Manta rays turn beneath snorkellers where a coral cay meets the reef's southern edge.
Birdsville
Australia
One pub, one racetrack and Big Red rising beside the Simpson Desert.
Limmen National Park
Australia
Sandstone towers form empty lanes above rivers and hundreds of kilometres of rough Gulf road.
MONA
Australia
Art about sex, death and everything awkward descends into darkness beneath a river peninsula.