Winton

We stopped for the night at Winton on our way to Mount Isa in outback Queensland. Winton is where Banjo Paterson is believed to have written Waltzing Matilda and the song was first sung in one of the pubs in town. Matilda Centre houses a museum telling the story of Banjo Paterson's song and has a great display of items used during the history of Winton. (Unfortunately this was destroyed by fire after our visit)

This is a typical country town with lovely wide streets, plenty of pubs and a laid back approach. Winton is very famous for the discovery of dinosaur bones and footprints in the local area. Two places to visit are:

• Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum at the Jump Up which is the world's largest collection of Australian Dinosaur fossils. We did a tour of the Collection Room and the fossil preparation Laboratory - very interesting - you can even volunteer to help with the process of preparing the bones
• Dinosaur Stampede at Lark Quarry Conservation Park about 110 km from town; discover the only evidence of a Dinosaur Stampede on the planet. They operate tours daily and you will see prints that were left about 95 million years ago. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the Quarry but it is on the list for our next trip to Winton. 

Keep an eye out the the garbage bins in town - they are shaped like a dinosaur's foot.