Walking with Dinosaurs in the Aussie Outback
The first time I saw Jurassic Park, I was six or seven years old. Watching movies with Grandma and Pa that my brother and I would not have otherwise been allowed to watch was one of our favourite parts of going to their house. From the second that the Brachiosaurus came into view on the TV screen, I wanted to know everything about the “dinoshores”. The era of the dinosaurs is obviously not physically within reach, and so the mystery of the world that has since past appeals to the child in all of us. The creatures I adored from the first time I saw Jurassic Park were lost, then rediscovered when Jurassic Park was released in 1993, and then lost once again when the movie put Cretaceous dinosaurs in a park themed on the era entirely before them. So here it is…welcome to Cretaceous Park.
The Cretaceous period…a time that the world we now know was only just beginning to take form. At the beginning of the Cretaceous, the ancient super continent Pangaea was beginning to crack, slowly but surely coming apart at the seams to manifest new islands , regions of their own. And from these newly formed islands evolved new species of dinosaurs. Earth was changing drastically. Having occurred between 144–65 million years ago, the Cretaceous period was the final of three periods that divided the Mesozoic Era. By the mid-Cretaceous, Pangaea had definitively spilt apart, creating smaller continents.
As a result, geographic isolation occurred on a substantial scale, causing deviation in the evolution of all land-dwelling flora and fauna on the two newly created islands. The land formation changing also crafted vast new coastlines, and the seasons began to become more distinctive as the global climate became cooler. And while the climate was cooler than the previous periods of the Mesozoic Era (Triassic and Jurassic), it was still warmer than the present-day climate. Snow became common in higher altitudes. Meanwhile, the tropical parts of the globe were much wetter than they had been previously. The Cretaceous saw the occurrence of the first flowering plants around the middle of the period, Magnolia, Beech and Fig among them. The forests began to evolve, becoming more and more like the forests of today, Oaks and Hickories among the flora that started to become more common in these prehistoric landscapes.
And then tragedy struck in the form of a colossal rock hurtling through space toward planet Earth. 65 million years ago, an asteroid hit Earth at what would become the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The jolt that resulted from the impact propelled shockwaves of insurmountable proportions barrelling through the planet. Molten rock began to rain down from the sky…signalling the beginning of the end. With the force of ten billion Hiroshima bombs, the planet was brutalised beyond the point of return.
The shockwaves broke apart rock and set off large earth quakes and tsunamis that were thousands of metres deep in magnitude. The impact of the small asteroid was devastating for the planet. The sky became increasingly hot, the air clouding with dust, the surface of the oceans across the globe close to boiling point. The devastation of the impact sent the environment — and its inhabitants — into chaos. With rock debris settling in the atmosphere, Earth fell into continued darkness for months (possibly longer). As a result of the sunlight being unable to penetrate the thick, dusty air, photosynthesis came to a halt. The direct consequence of this, of course, was the death of green plant life, which caused what would prove to be a catastrophic disorder to the natural food chain.
The herbivores, with their main food source abolished, began to perish at an exceedingly alarming rate. Omnivores began to suffer, but with their diet containing meat as well, were able to survive longer than their herbivore neighbours. It was not long before they found themselves scavenging for scraps of the dead and the dying until nothing was left. At the same time as the demise of the omnivores, the carnivorous dinosaurs, having lost their food source ( the other dinosaurs they preyed on ) soon died out after. Earth lost an entire era in a matter of a few months. The result of the impact of the asteroid formed what is today known as the Chicxulub Impact Crater. It is a common belief among professionals in the field that more than half (approximately seventy percent) of the world’s species went extinct at the time of the asteroid impact.
The dinosaurs were simultaneously wiped from the face of the earth during the KT event, with the birds and some water-dwelling creatures , including some species of sharks , being the exceptions. It was a trying day for the planet. Earth lost thousands of species in the catastrophic extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. It started out as the dawn of a new day and it ended as the dawn of a new era.
And then, imagine this...millions of years after your entire species is long gone, an individual of a species you will never see for yourself happens upon your footprints; immortalised remnants of your life, of your very existence. Pure happenstance and suddenly two species, millions of years apart, are connected. These strange creatures walk where you once walked. They marvel over the footprints that somehow have connected you to them, entire eras apart. A moment in your life becomes a wild discovery in theirs. And so, it is. The beginning of an era of ancient discovery of the most mysterious creatures that ever walked the earth. And what a beginning it is.
ESCAPING TO THE HEART OF THE QLD OUTBACK
It is this truly remarkable happenstance of two entirely different eras colliding through research, discovery and excavation (and all that follows) that is the core of why I love palaeontology so much. While I am definitely interested in archaeology too, I am more drawn to the science of past flora and fauna than I am to human history. As far as dinosaur-focused palaeontology goes, the barren (and thus quite often not liveable and easily utilised) landscape of much of Australia, coupled with a few other factors, has resulted in there not being as much of an active palaeontology community here in the Land Down Under. So, after finding out a few years ago that there are indeed a few places in Australia where dinosaur bones are not only found, but found quite often, seeing Aussie dinosaur country soared straight to the top of my bucket list.
When the world was tipped upside down at the start of this year, we had to reschedule our original travel plans. It seemed like the perfect time to finally tick off this remarkable part of Australia, rich with ancient history and exciting discoveries. We planned it a little last minute, but even so it was the trip of a lifetime. Packing the car with water, drinks, snacks and our gear, off we went. Listening to our favourite podcasts, we made the 14.5 hour journey (stopping around nine hours up from Brisbane for a few days to hike Carnarvon Gorge) with relative ease, excitement and eager anticipation building more the closer that we edged towards the Queensland outback.
In between the gorge and Winton, rocky bushland eventually gave way to bright orange and red dust and sand. It is the first time that either of us can actually remember seeing the red desert of the Aussie outback for ourselves. And it was astoundingly beautiful. Here in this part of Australia, the fossils that make up the vast majority of its ever-growing collection are from the earliest Cretaceous period (around 95-98 million years ago). The finds include fossils from sauropods, theropods, aquatic reptiles and pterosaurs, among other flora and fauna that lived around the time, both in and around this area that, millions of years ago, was an inland sea.
Once you actually get to Dinosaur Country, each of the three little towns that make up the Australian Dinosaur Trail are quite close together. The full pass recommends that you take three days in each town, however we easily did each town in two days (though I could have easily spent three days in Hughenden, and easily more in Winton). When we finally got to Winton, we were a little tired but full of adrenaline and excitement (especially me, in all honesty). And it was the start of an amazing six days.
'Living systems are never in equilibrium. They are inherently unstable. They may seem stable, but they’re not. Everything is moving and changing. In a sense, everything is on the edge of collapse.'
Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
A STAMPEDE & PERFECT REMNANTS OF PREHISTORIC WINTON
We drove into Winton after a full eight hours on the road, getting there from Carnarvon and our accommodation in Rolleston with a beautiful resident dog, to check into our accommodation shortly before the sun dipped below the horizon. As we approached Winton, we started to see iron signs that assured us that we were headed in the right direction, a perfect contrast to the light blue sky that met the red outback. Grabbing dinner at the local pub, we talked about the next day's activities and what we were going to be doing. We toasted to the trip of a life time and to exploring our own backyard more. Going to sleep that night, we were eager to finally get to (cliche as it sounds) walk with dinosaurs.
The next morning, we headed up to Jump Up to spend the day at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs. Winton is the perfect encapsulation of an outback town if there ever was one. Approaching Jump Up, we drove past yet another iron sign and some kangaroos and emus that were hanging out on the outback plains. I have honestly never seen anything quite like the red outback, and I can remember so clearly driving with Josh towards Jump Up, completely mesmerised by the orange-dusted road that wound up through the massive boulders and outback flora. Winding our way up through this little dusty orange ribbon of road to get to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Josh kept looking at me and smiling. It was my 27th birthday. And I was in the perfect place, exactly where I wanted to be. Arriving at the parking lot, we headed in past sign that positively assured us that we were in the right place (though, of course, it is quite impossible to go in the wrong direction when there is just the one road). Parking the car, we hurried in to pick up our four-day passes from the reception desk and eagerly waited for our day to start. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs is Home to the largest fossil collection in Australia, as well as the most consistently productive fossil preparation lab in the Southern Hemisphere. Waiting to head to the lab for the first part of the day, we took some time to really appreciate where we were. And what we were about to do.
As we drove over to the lab, I was so excited that I was almost in tears. We were a little amused and surprised to realise that we were the youngest people there by a solid thirty–forty years. We got to explore the lab, seeing all the plaster treasure chests that were the temporary homes to fossils found in and around Winton's dig sites. The guide explained their process and what we could actually sign up to attend an annual dig where the money paid to do so would fund the next year's paleontological work. Individuals can register interest and it covers accommodation and food and the week of digging on the sites. You can also register interest to go and prepare the fossils in the lab (we are definitely going to do it one year, if not more! Or at least, I definitely will). We learned all about it all and then we were given a truly magnificent look at the near-complete neck and middle region of Judy, a young sauropod who is so well preserved that, not only is she the most complete sauropod skeleton ever found in the Southern Hemisphere, but she was also found with fossilised remnants of her last meal in her stomach! Like so many other dinosaur fossils found here, it was found by a local farmer when mustering sheep. It is quite rare to see such a phenomenal fossil being prepared. I was ecstatic. I could tell that Josh was impressed, too.
At the entrance to the lab, there is a massive sauropod leg that you can stand next to for scale. Looking up at it (in my case, way up, as I am shorter than Josh), it leaves you in bewildered awe, that something that big once dominated the planet. Eventually (reluctantly, on my part), it was time to head back to view a presentation and look at some more fossils. When it was time to head into the space, we got to see some of the remarkable bones that they had discovered and prepared over the years (it was a temperature controlled room). We watched a presentation on the history of the paleontological scene in and around Winton. Afterwards, we got to take our time to marvel over the fossils in front of us, some of which included another largely complete skeleton of their theropod, named Banjo, and many bones of sauropods.
We walked over to an elongated golf cart that took us to Dinosaur Canyon, where we got to take a little walk down through the red boulders and outback flora, with life size bronze statues of many of the creatures that once lived and roamed around this part of the world. At each of the spots, we learned about them and their lives, getting to shade over metal plates of each of the dinosaurs. Both of our favourite was, without a doubt, the section where a theropod is chasing many little dinosaurs across the red earth. It is a literal representation of the stampede that is housed and protected a little ways out of Winton. This part of Jump Up is still under construction, with a man-made "prehistoric" forest being brought to life (no easy task, given the drastically different landscape and temperature that exists in Wonton present day). Additionally, the coming observatory and added March of the Titanosaurs exhibition, where the best-preserved sauropod trackway will be carefully moved, being protected and housed in a light and temperature-controlled building. And in front of the entrance into it will be life-sized sauropods to welcome visitors in to view the remnants of their journey, made so many millions of years ago. And as if all of this is not spectacular enough, in the future they will appoint the Museum of Natural History.
It was the perfect birthday. I even got to spend some time talking to my parents while standing atop Jump Up, looking out over the incredible rust-coloured landscape. Eventually, it unfortunately was time to finish the first tour day of our trip through dinosaur country. Before we left to get some dinner, we bought books, pins, little gifts for loved ones and I got a 3D theropod claw with the birthday money from my family (lucky, I know). Afterwards, we bought a nice bottle of wine and headed back up to Jump Up. It was the perfect place to finish my birthday, watching the night come alive with an eternity of stars. I have heard before that there is nothing quite like an outback sunset. And it truly exceeded each and every expectation. We parked off to the side of Jump Up, near boulder outcrops and nestled in a perfect little spot between some trees and rocks. We were the only ones there and we laid down our picnic rug and cushions to get comfortable and watch the most fantastic day dissolve into our first night under the starts in the outback.
We enjoyed cheese and crackers and the bottle of wine we had managed to find in town and spent the time talking and watching the soft blues, yellows and oranges of the afternoon sky become more intense, more vibrant, with the sinking sun edging closer to the horizon all the time. After a while, a camper van with a small group of older individuals pulled up and enjoyed it too. We were parked far enough apart that we had the trees between us and them. We watched the night sky come alive with what seemed like an infinite blanket of stars, layered together as the fabric of the universe. We stayed under the stars for hours, eventually heading back to town to get some sleep and a bore water-fuelled shower (I love Winton, don't get me wrong, it is the highlight of the dinosaur country leg of this trip for me, for sure! However, the bore water is...unique to get used to). The next morning, we woke up early to head to Dinosaur Stampede National Monument. This unbelievable, once in a lifetime place had been at the top of my bucket list for so long. In all honesty, I did not get a great night's sleep because I was so excited. We handed the cabin keys back to the off section at reception and packed the car as we were driving from Winton to Hughenden after we went to the monument.
Making the drive out to the monument, the excitement built up once again. We drove further and further into the red desert. And then we saw an iron sign that signalled our turn off to the monument. This site is seriously special. Over 3,300 fossilised footprints are laid out here and this is the only known site of a dinosaur stampede in the entire world. Dinosaur trackways? Sure, there are a few scattered around the globe. But a dinosaur stampede? This is the only discovered evidence, chaotically and perfectly laid out for us, to get a glimpse of that type of ancient activity. And, cool side note, (fun fact!) this is often associated with being the inspiration for the stampede scene in Jurassic Park. The stampede has been protected by moulding and the structure that surrounds it, with an additional mould being made and sent back to hang in the museum in South Bank, Brisbane. I literally got this sense of absolute awe that I just could not snake. So many frenzied footprints, all running over and around one another. All in one place and in the same event. You might notice that the stampede actually seems to run straight into rock. That is because it does.
After taking it upon themselves to move tonnes of rock to uncover what we can see at the site today, the party that discovered and unearthed so much of this site decided to stop. The rest of it is covered underneath the red earth and up under the hills. After buying more books and souvenirs, we got on the road and sadly left Winton, heading straight into a vast expanse of orange and red earth that was peppered with Aussie wildlife and flora. When I picture the perfect outback town, Winton is exactly what comes to mind. If I moved to the outback, I think that I would move there (yes, bore water and all!).
HIKING IN HUGHENDEN & A DISCOVERY CENTRE OF TREATURES
The drive from Winton to Hughenden takes just two and a half hours, however we stopped along the way to grab some food, so it took three hours for us to drive into the little town. When we did arrive, the caravan park that we had booked a little cabin in was perfect. We both love that kind of accommodation, where it is laid back and the vibe is a positive one. And sometimes, as is the case with this situation, that means having accommodation that is more quaint than it is fancy or overdone. We checked in, grabbed our cabin keys and set about unpacking our food into the little fridge and enjoying the atmosphere of families having fun together and older couples making memories on the road. We even got to get a few little ice creams. Once we had settled in, we decided to check out Flinders Discovery Centre, since it was just afternoon by this point. This wonderful place has some of the most spectacular fossils in the entire country. We took our time wandering through this building (a wonderful large steel barn-style building). Around every corner, there was something else wonderful to see. Hughenden's dinosaur scene was already proving to be at once a little similar to Winton and entirely special and unique in and of itself.
The star of the show? A skeletal replica of a Muttaburrasaurus skeleton found in the area that dates back 110 million years old, named Hughie. And surrounding Hughie was all these wonderful fossils that were exciting and special in their own way, including ammonites, trilobites etc. In the centre of the centre, there is a short presentation that educates you about the sedimentary layers of this part of Australia, detailing their instrumental role in Australia's natural history. This is where we reiterated that we wanted to make the time to hike Porcupine Gorge the following day, a nearby national park that was supposed to have an incredible natural showcase of these sedimentary layers and all that they mean then, now and always. On our way out after exploring the Flinders Discovery Centre, we selected some little gifts for loved ones and picked up a few fossils for ourselves. My treasures from this leg of the dinosaur trail were an ancient shark tooth from Madagascar and a trilobite (I had been wanting a trilobite fossil for a while and in this part of Australia, there are many of them, so fortunately for me they sell them).
Heading back to the caravan park, we stopped in at a lovely little cafe ran by an elderly woman who made us corned beef and pickle sandwiches just like the ones we each remembered our own grandmothers making us in our childhoods. She made the pickle jelly herself and you could taste the nostalgia. Eating back at our cabin, we joked and talked as a red rooster bravely walked around us, not particularly caring that we were in what seemed to be his territory, but keeping an eye on us. After a tasty dinner at a great outback pub (though the name unfortunately escapes me), we went to sleep. The next day, we went further out bush to hike Porcupine Gorge. The drive itself was stunning. Sadly, seeing road kill in the outback is common and we crossed many long-dead animals. Even so, we saw many live ones that were quite content to roam the outback. When we did arrive at the entrance to the gorge, we did so by parking near a camping ground that we wound our way to through a long road through the bush (as well as so many cattle...truly, so many cattle). We grabbed our water bottles and began to take the trail down to the gorge.
From the top, it looks like quite a hike however it did not seem to be all too brutal. Mind you, this was close to midday and the heat was definitely heavy in the air. Even so, we hiked down along the path and found ourselves among the sedimentary layers in all their glory, To the right of where we were sitting was a natural pyramid that was set into the sloping edge of the gorge. We took some time to explore, collecting some awesome little rocks and sitting down to enjoy where we were. It was impossible not to notice all the earthy tones that were prominent in both their aesthetic appearance and their instrumental role in Earth history. After spending a while walking around the base of the gorge, we passed by a lovely family whose little kids were waving at us and talking to us. And then we began the hike back up to the top of Porcupine Gorge. We met an elderly gentleman who was exploring while his wife waited for him at the top. We bonded over our appreciation of the natural beauty of the gorge and of his and my struggle to hike up with relative ease (Josh did not experience these setbacks). Even so, we persevered and hiked up together for a while before he stopped on his own and we pushed on ahead.
Periodically on the hike back up, we looked down to make sure that he was okay. When we finally got to the top of the gorge, we met his wife who we told that we had just seen her husband and he would likely, if not certainly, also be reaching the top, too. Riding the natural high of the hike, we drove back to town excited and happy, feeling accomplished and thankful to have experienced Porcupine Gorge for ourselves. That night, we had dinner at the Great Western Hotel before going to sleep for the night.
The next day, we relaxed and read on our cabin's front deck for a while before we went and bought more sandwiches to take on the road with us to go to Richmond. Putting on a new podcast episode, we were off to the final stop in Queensland's dinosaur country.
INCREDIBLE AQUATIC FOSSILS & MISSED OPPORTUNITY IN RICHMOND
Just two hours later (we stopped to grab fuel, adding a little additional time to our journey to get there), we arrived in Richmond. From what we could tell, it was by far the smallest of the three towns. We pulled up next to the town's lake and ate our sandwiches, at first getting out of the car and then realising that the local ducks and geese were a little too comfortable getting up close and personal to us and launching for our food. So, we ate in the car, watching them trail after some others who were there with their kids while we watched the great eagles and hawks soar through the blue sky above us.
Eventually, we went to check into our accommodation. We had a great little cabin that sat next to Lake Fred Tritton. This is probably our nicest accommodation on this prehistorically focused leg of our road trip, in that it was the biggest and had a beautiful view right outside our kitchen windows. We grabbed a few supplies from the local store to make some drinks for ourselves, as well as some snacks. Richmond sure is a pretty little outback town. We had a fantastic afternoon having some drinks in our cabin and reading for the afternoon. That night, we walked over to the Federal Palace Hotel and got a pub meal and a drink each. Not long after, we were enjoying some absolutely flavoursome lasagne and salad. There is something great about the atmosphere of Aussie pubs. And this one had a few resident pups that wandered around, making it the perfect place to be.
Walking back to the camper van park, we were talking and getting excited about our plans for the following day, looking up at the incredible cosmic display that the stars were putting on for us all. What is Richmond's appeal to a dinosaur enthusiast, you ask? Over 100 million years ago, this town was part of a monumental inland sea. Anyone that knows me well knows that digging up dinosaur bones and preparing them has been at the top of my bucket list for quite a long time (hence my plans to go back for the annual Winton dig and prep some time soon!). In Richmond, it is aquatic dinosaurs that are most commonly dug up here. And on certain days, you can pay to go out with the town's resident palaeontologist to spend morning digging on a legitimate excavation site (it is often too hot to go any later in the day, hence it being a morning dig). Any bones that you find, you can excavate for yourself and find out what they are from the palaeontologist on site. So, after a good night's sleep, we woke up with the sun to arrive at the meeting point by Kronosaurus Korner (the town museum). We got there early and after waiting for a while, the palaeontologist was nowhere in sight. So, we headed in to the reception desk to find out where they were.
The receptionist looked up at us and my stomach sank a little as I realised I was not going to be able to dig around to find prehistoric fossils for the first time that day. In all honesty, the system is a little flawed in a few ways so rather than booking online, I would recommend calling the museum directly to make a booking. They are very kind and super helpful! If nothing else, it is always a good reason to head back next time I am in Winton. She kindly organised a refund for us and we decided that while we were here, we should tick off the museum itself (something we had planned to do later in the day when it was a little hotter outside and after our dig). We headed in to the museum's main room where giant aquatic dinosaurs, reptiles and the like were carefully curated throughout the space. Above us were some fantastic replicas of what some of these ancient creatures would have looked like in life. In the first section were all these replicas with their fossil counterparts laid out beneath them as well as some petrified wood and other fossils.
In the next of the two rooms, there were some fascinating fossils set up around the room, including a little pterosaur above a glass case that was filled with ammonites and trilobites, a plaster case that was the temporary home of some fossils that were in the process of being excavated and prepared. And behind it was a huge slab of Orthoceras fossils in the same rock. My best friend gifted me an incredible little cluster of Orthoceras for my birthday a few years ago and this is the only other time I have ever seen one of these wicked fossils for myself. I was entranced. It was beautiful.
But the crown jewel, in both of our opinions, was this remarkable fossil that had been miraculously fossilised and preserved in what was a muddy and watery landscape that was part of the expansive inland sea. It was a Kunburrasaurus, a type of ankylosaur. Found in 1989 in Richmond, it took more than twenty years to prepare. Initially, it was thought to be Australia's then-only known ankylosaur, Minmi. This guy is different from other armoured ankylosaurs in that it does not sport the same club tail, however its armour still more than did its job effectively. Today, it has pride of place in a glass display case that is carefully and constantly temperature controlled to ensure the ongoing preservation of this once in a lifetime fossil. This particular specimen is so well preserved that you can easily make out its skin, as well as having evidence of stomach contents. It is the only fossil that we have ever found of its kind in the entire world. More than 95% of its bones being included in the fossil make this discovery a wonder to behold - and a massive win for the Australian paleontological community and the fortunate individual who first discovered it so many years ago, Mr Ian Levers. We marvelled at this once in a lifetime fossil and when we eventually went to leave, I bought a fossicking hammer for myself, Josh got himself a little keepsake and he (very sweetly) bought me a little kid's dig kit so that I "could still dig a dinosaur".
FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE OUTBACK
The original plan for Richmond was to spend the first day digging and the second day at Kronosaurus Korner. However, with the dig cancelled, we ultimately came to the decision to leave a day early so that we could spend another day at Josh's sister's place further North in the hinterland of Cairns' coastline. We had seen everything that we wanted to see in Richmond and we were excited to see his sister, her partner and their pup. Richmond is a sweet little town, however it was time to leave. So, packing the car and organising with reception to leave early, we started the drive in the mid morning to get to her house. The dinosaur country leg of our road trip had come to its end. Being able to tick this phenomenal part of Australia off my bucket list is an experience that I will never forget. Spending six days in the red outback surrounded by prehistoric fossils and getting to live out my wildest wannabe palaeontologist dreams, is an incredible experience that I will never forget. Each of the three little towns has something unique and special to offer. It is entirely worthwhile for anyone with an interest in Australian history, in paleontological history specifically in this country, or simply in adventure and travel.
Winton was both Josh's and my favourite of the three towns, though we did both genuinely enjoy each of them. There are wonderful traits that each town has. I cannot recommend the Dinosaur Trail highly enough to any adventure seeker's bucket list. Our first time in the red outback of Queensland together, we had the most incredible time. I will always be appreciative that Josh was all for taking this trip and I will always be excited by prospective future return trips to this unique environment. From the emus, kangaroos, wallabies and other Aussie wildlife on the ground, to the eagles, hawks and other Aussie birds in the sky and everything in between, this is a place that exceeds expectations. There truly is nowhere like the Australian outback. Driving through the orange and red dust of the outback, sometimes driving for hours on end without seeing a single other individual on the road - and giving the lovely typical two-fingered wave to those we did pass by - those will always be some of my favourite memories. This experience was the perfect example of how while Australia can be a barren landscape sometimes, it can be the ancient resting place of millions of years of history, unlocked only if we are willing and able to do the gentle and ongoing work to discover, explore, excavate and prepare it all for current and future generations to marvel at and build upon.
I left a piece of my heart in the Queensland outback. And I am excited to go back one day (hopefully to spend some time digging up fossils and preparing them in the lab in Winton!). 