Lark Quarry Conservation Park

Journey through Winton's mesa country to see a snapshot of an ancient environment and dinosaur footprints from 95 million years ago. Along the way we will go off the beaten track to enjoy some of the magnificent country this region has to offer - we drive onto a working cattle station to see Merton Gorge and Lookouts. At the Dinosaur Stampede we enjoy the guided tour of the footprints and have time to enjoy an optional stroll around the spinifex walking track. There is so much more than just dinosaurs!

The Dino Dash will take you to Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede and return in a morning half day. We enjoy an early morning start, participate in the 9.30am Dinosaur Stampede tour, you'll have time for the 15 min Spinifex Walk, we'll have morning tea, and be back in Winton around 12.30pm. Along the way we provide information on the local flora and fauna, history and landscape. Lark Quarry Conservation Park hosts the only known dinosaur stampede in the world with more than 3300 footprints preserved from 95 million years ago. Tour Includes: Morning tea and entry/tour at Lark Quarry. Please note this tour does not journey onto private property, nor enjoy the views of our longer Dinosaur Stampede tours.

Visit Carisbrooke Station and the Dinosaur Stampede. The Dinosaur Stampede at Lark Quarry Conservation Park preserves 3300 dinosaur footprints that were made 95 million years ago. We will be enthralled by the tour at this site. Then we travel to Carisbrooke Station to marvel at the natural wonders and history of this spectacular location. See the Three Sisters, Meteor Lookout, fossick for opal and just sit back and enjoy the open expanse of the landscape. Carisbrooke is a working cattle station that we have permission to visit on a regular basis - it is not possible to visit the station on your own. Carisbrooke has some spectacular views along the escarpment of the Cory Range and across the valley filled with flat grazing country. One of the spectacular rock features is the Three Outback Sisters. But there is plenty to see. There is a disused Opal mine we visit to see if we can find any left overs! And, there is also a lot of interesting history including early sheep and cattle grazing history and the landing site of the plane "The Swoose" in 1942. Really, it's great just to get off the beaten track and see some of the country side that you wouldn't even know was there! The Dinosaur Stampede at Lark Quarry Conservation Park preserves approximately 3300 dinosaur footprints that were made approximately 95 million years ago by the animals that roamed the land at the time. It's thought that the wet environment at the time contained forests, swamps and flood plains through which the animals walked and ran doing their daily business. As a snapshot of one moment in time, a group, or groups, of animals ran through some mud near a water hole. The footprints left in the mud were covered by sand and mud and then more layers of mud and sand, drying out to become rock buried deep beneath the land surface. Millions of years later, as our landscape eroded away, parts of the ancient landscape have been exposed, including the edge of the layer of rock that contains those footprints. Through relatively serendipitous circumstances those footprints were uncovered by paleontologists (and a volunteer named Malcolm Lark) in the 1970's and preserved by Queensland Parks and Wildlife as a Conservation Park (Lark Quarry Conservation Park) and was also the first site to be listed on Australia's list of National Monuments (Dinosaur Stampede National Monument).