Crumpled Home

The trip to Melbourne wasn’t only for Thanksgiving dinner with our friends. We also spent a bunch of time with our cousins!

Even though it was nearly summer, the weather was typical Melbourne: cool and rainy. The day we arrived, we stopped by a great cafe for a terrific brunch followed by a trip to the Melbourne Museum. They have a great permanent dinosaur exhibit and while we were there, they had a fantastic arthropod exhibit with a huge collection of LIVE tarantulas and dangerous spiders as well as some insects. RJ was in heaven — a museum full of dinosaurs and bugs!

Off to a cafe for breakfast, where LR tells Mi. all the latest news. Surprise of the morning: both LR and RJ like kippers!

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(on the way to school)

Dad: You’re brining your ammonite fossil?

RJ: Yeah. I want to show it for news.

Dad: Be extra super careful with it… Most kids don’t get to bring ammonites to school. Know why?

RJ: Because they’re really hard to find?

Dad: Yep… but mostly because their parents know they are going to drop them.

RJ: I think there’s a rule. You can drop them one time, and that’s okay, but drop them two times and you’re out. No more fossils for you.

The hot springs, geysers and other exciting geological activity isn’t confined to Yellowstone. Thermopolis, a small town not far from Cody, WY is home to numerous hot springs (it’s actually located in the creatively named “Hot Springs County”). The locals were quick to take advantage of a few of the springs by directing their output into swimming pools and water slides. We enjoyed a relaxing morning there, splashing around and having a great time.

The streets of Cody are filled with real cowboys (fully decked out with real cowboy boots, real cowboy hats and really large belt buckles), so no trip to Wyoming would be complete without going to see cowboys in their natural habitat — a rodeo. The events were pretty exciting and did a good job of convicing us that the competitors were all quite insane. An Australian was competing in the bronco riding and we think he won… We yelled out a hearty, “Ozzie ozzie ozzie! Oy! Oy! Oy!” for good measure.

We had such a great time in Wyoming — it was pretty much non-stop activities and entertainment — most of which wouldn’t have been possible without the hospitality of our friends DD. and C. Thank you so much guys. It’s just amazing how much we got done; it really was terrific.

RJ takes to the warm, hot-springs fed pools at Thermopolis!

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With both our children being dinosaur obsessed and planning to become future palaeontologists, one of the big attractions to the Cody, Wyoming area was the dinosaurs.

Eighty million years ago, this place must have been absolutely infested with the creatures, because the area was littered with fossils, both above and below the ground. The place is still crawling with dinosaurs though, as shops and museums dedicated to the extinct creatures have sprung up everywhere.

We stopped in one of the local stores, which sported several large fossils (as well as a bizarre selection of South American jewelery and African trinkets). We also spent some time at the Wyoming Dinosaur Centre where they have an active dig site, a lab to work on the fossils, and an amazing museum full of complete skeletons and reproductions. Finally, we were taken on a fantastic fossil hunting expedition of our own through the middle of nowhere by John, a local paleontology enthusiast. Thanks John!

The dino shop had a full sized T. Rex skeleton on display. It took up most of the room!

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Mum and the kids spent a few days down south. Dad caught up with them over the weekend. We had all sorts of animal visitors to the house: a couple of bandicoots, parrots, cockatoos, galahs, king skinks and even a blue-tongue lizard! LR started each day with riding lessons while RJ spent the mornings exploring.

LR had several riding lessons.

She's getting very good. On the last day we were there, she led everyone back to the stable!

LR gives Seeaney a thank-you carrot.

RJ spent some the time herding snails with a stick. He gets to ride next year!

It's not a rat! A young bandicoot stopped by for a snack.

Mum and LR spotted some fossils while on a walk.

You just can't leave the house without finding them.

(while on a walk with Mum, Dad, RJ and LR after Mum and LR had discovered their own fossils)

RJ: (spotting a fossil from Dad’s shoulders) There’s one daddy!

Dad: Where? Oh there! Nice one!

RJ: Let’s show mum.

Dad: Okay… Hey Mum, look what RJ found!

Mum: Wow, RJ! That’s a great one! That’s a really good find!

RJ: Yeah well, I’m just doing the best I can.

On the weekend, we stopped at a chalk outcropping near Gingin to hunt for fossils. Our main goal was to find some shark teeth, but we weren’t successful. We did find a large assortment of crinoid bits, sea urchin spines, pieces of giant clams, and rhizoliths.

We headed across the fields to the chalk outcropping.

"Wait for me!" The thick mud in the field slowed RJ down a bit.

"Where'd they go?" RJ got to the top and had to search for the other members of our expedition.

LR was already hard at work digging out crinoid stems down in the abandonded quarry.

RJ was desperate to find some shark teeth. "The hammer goes BOOM!"

At one point, RJ found slugs everywhere.

"Can we keep them? They're cute."

Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish!

With a bucket full of fossils and some very muddy boots, it was time to head home.