Sunday 22nd July - Lawn Hill to Mt Isa

Looking at the fossils

We left Lawn Hill this morning after an even colder night in the tent.  We were pleased to see our cosy caravan again.


Road near Riversleigh QLD

This time we took a different route via Riversleigh, which is a world famous fossil area.  We had learnt something of the finds here in the interpretive display at Mt Isa.  One of the dig sites is open to the public and fossils can be observed in situ.  I think there are just so many that the archeologists don't worry about security on the site.  It's very remote and for the first 30 minutes or so we were the only people there.

Mural of 'Baru' and 'Thunderbird' at Riversleigh QLD

The site is really interesting with fossils from about 25 million years ago.  The most notable and frequent are an enormous freshwater crocodile, known as Baru, a giant flightless bird about 2.5m in height which is closer in ancestry to the duck than the emu, and a marsupial lion.


View from the top of Riversleigh fossil site QLD



Fossils at Riversleigh QLD

After the fossils, we had a long long drive back to Mt Isa where the supermarket is closed because it's Sunday!  Bit of a backwater.