Crumpled Home » fossils

Melbourne and the Cousins, 2010: Part 1

Luke — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:07:21 +0000

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!

After a great breakfast, we set off together to the Melbourne Museum. At one of the exploring tables, Pa. shows off a deinonychus claw.

LR and Mi. check out an interactive panel about velociraptors.

RJ had a great time identifying the skeletons and was amazed when he spotted the huge pterodactyl hanging at the very top of the room.

Mi, LR and RJ pop their heads up in the middle of an ant's nest!

Auntie Bron and the girls check out the deadly funnel web spiders. Luckily we don't have them where we live.

Mi. considers adopting a Venezualan Sun Tiger for a pet.

Careful LR, I think they've seen you!

Just for fun, RJ crashes an asteroid into Northern Australia.

Mi. and LR check out the near reaches of space in the 360 degree 3d movie.

Mum takes a break under a long-legged friend.

RJ sticks his entire head in the "Clever" tube.

Time for a 3d movie about African animals!

Mi. is doing great at quoits; she only missed a couple of pegs!

LR practices with the hoops, controlling them with her magic powers from across the courtyard.

RJ built himself a new robot body.

The kids line up on the concrete blocks for a quick round of statues!

Mum and Auntie Bron take a supervisory role at the museum playground.

LR loved these enhanced monkey bars -- the arch made it easy for her to practice some of her gymnastics bar routine.

RJ sat at the top of the slide declaring to anyone who approached, '' I'm managing my business. You can do whatever you like, and it wont bother me! ''

We were all ready to go when Pa. ran into a small problem... her legs disappeared! It took ages to find where they had run off to.

Three times and you’re locked outside forever

Luke — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:07:15 +0000

(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.

Our USA Adventure 2010, Part 5: Hot Springs and Rodeo

Luke — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:07:53 +0000

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!

RJ and Mum watch from the warm pool as LR and C. head down the waterslide.

Go LR, go!

C. and LR chilling with the noodles. The hot springs feed the pool with fresh hot water, while the minerals in the water keep bacteria and algae from growing. It smells a little strange, but the kids can swim for hours without turning blue!

Dad and RJ practiced diving under the water.

C and DD enjoy some lunch at a nearby park. After swimming all morning, we were absolutely starved! There were hot springs bubbling up here too.

RJ gives Flappy, his pet pterodactyl, a stern talking to after he refuses to behave during lunch.

Time to go explore the area! The boardwalk is there so that we don't inadventently walk somewhere unsafe and break through the surface into a boiling hot spring.

We stopped by a friend's place to visit their trout pond. He even let dad have a go of his off-road Segway. It was a lot of fun, even if you do look quite ridiculous while doing it.

LR tried hard to catch a trout, but it's very difficult to get them interested when your brother is standing beside you shoveling scoops of fish food into the water.

LR and C. are all dressed up and ready to go to the rodeo!

Insert theme song to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" here.

The rodeo was full of exciting events. The bronco and bull riding looked extremely painful. The "Heading and Heeling" team roping looked a lot safer... for the riders.

One of the bulls throw his rider and charged across the ring to where one of the rodeo clowns was sitting. The clown ducked into the barrel just moments before the bull powered into it and knocked it flying.

The rodeo clown emerges unscathed from the barrel! His hat was a little worse for wear.

This clown wasn't so lucky. Both he and the bull rider limped away from this encounter.

C. and RJ climb one of the fences to the holding pens and check out the horses and cattle after the events. The animals seemed quite calm and happy and not upset after their ordeal.

A shop in Meeteetsee, Wyoming... across the road from the Cowboy Chocolatier where we stopped for a treat.

We had such a great time in Wyoming, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help and hospitality of our great friends, DD and C. Here’s a final picture of LR on the fossil hunting plains (click for big version).

Goodbye Wyoming! We had a great time!

Our USA Adventure 2010, Part 3: Dinosaur Country

Luke — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:07:12 +0000

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!

Mum reads RJ, C. and LR a story at the dino shop!

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center had so many dinosaur fossils on display. Most of them were complete reproductions, including this incredibly huge sauropod.

RJ points out one of his favorite early Devonian creatures, an ammonite!

Look out LR, there's a Deinonychus right behind you!

Better take a few steps back, C! That deinonychus wants you to keep away from its eggs!

We had a chance to watch one of the palaeontologists at work in the lab.

We stopped at the allosaurus feeding ground dig site. They keep it covered to protect the fossils from the environment.

RJ checks out a fragment of allosaurus jawbone.

John drove us out through some incredibly barren terrain in his 4WD, carefully weaving around many ravines and gullies. When we got there, we all spread out, searching the ground for fossils of our own.

LR heads over the ridge to check the terrain on the other side.

"I've found some already!" Great job LR!

Mum was really good at finding them. She found a huge number of shards and fragmented bone pieces from something... big.

After filling our pockets with rocks and fossils, we'd eagerly return to John to have him review our find... except Mum, who was already an expert at identifying them.

John describes some of the stratigraphy and geology of the area to LR.

RJ was a champion at finding fossil teeth... mostly the grinding teeth of some ancient herbivore.

C. runs along a ridge to get to a new area to explore.

LR surveys the barren terrain. There wasn't much that could grow there, but the landscape was really quite beautiful.

A Trip Down South

Luke — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:07:06 +0000

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.

Actually, We Expect a Lot More

Luke — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:05:16 +0000

(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.

Fossil Excavation at the Gingin Chalk

Luke — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:06:35 +0000

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.