The Royal open air picture theatre

Winton is an amazing little town out in the middle of nowhere and has several wonderful attractions. It's the birthplace of Qantas, the site of the first performance of 'Waltzing Matilda' and still has one of the few remaining open-air picture theatres in the world.

Several patrons waiting patiently for the theatre to open at 7pm.

Earlier in the day, I had wandered inside and you can see the lack of ceiling and the old canvas chairs.

A revolving spotlight cast these lights on the pavement.

I tried out a chair. Note that at 7pm I was just wearing a T-shirt.

A huge flock of noisy galahs gathered on the electricity wires. This is just a few of the flock of hundreds.

At 7pm we paid $20 each and selected our seats. The theatre emphasizes a fifties experience so they show old advertisements accompanied by famous film songs of the period such as 'Moon River'.

The program started with 'God Save the Queen'. Back in the 50's and 60's, everybody would have stood, but not now. There was an interesting short film about the history of the theatre, followed by some advertisements. We were then treated to some cartoons including Popeye and the Three Stooges. I enjoyed the latter, but Marianne has a higher level of taste. The program ended at 8:30 and it had become so cold that we were glad to leave.

On alternate nights, they usually show a real film and John Wayne films are popular.

It's all very basic, but fun.

Did I mention it got cold? Really cold! We had brought our own blanket along, but they do provide them. It's fun to look up at the stars in the cold night air.

We had dinner at the old pub across the road. At 6:30 pm, no jackets and it's quite warm. Two hours later, you shiver even with a heavy jacket on.

Next morning, we stopped to look at the historic dray in the main street.

I had visited Winton back in 2011 when I did a train trip to Longreach and posted a photo of the dray in my blog. My sister Anne told me that Herb Young was our mother's great-uncle/guardian Herbert Young.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs

Marianne has requested that we do a trip to Queensland's outback, so we have driven a long way to reach Winton in Western Queensland. Just south of this small outback town is an attraction where you can see dinosaur footprints at a spectacular museum. This wiki article gives a lot more information.

Entrance to the Museum.

The footprints were actually found about 80 km north-west of Winton but were gradually being damaged by the harsh climate after they were uncovered. A decision was made to transfer them to a new museum that sits on top of a Jump-Up 'mesa', overlooking the vast flat countryside.

There are various parts to the museum and we decided to do the part of the museum where you can see the footprints. We will see the other parts tomorrow.

A special building houses the transferred footprints. The area was cut up into smaller pieces and transferred. Apparently, the cutting up process was easy since much of the area was already crumbling from the harsh environment.

So here is a footprint from a large dinosaur.

Just below the yellow marker is one of the cuts.

The yellow marker is close to a smaller footprint from a much smaller dinosaur. The wiki article gives more details.

If I heard and remembered correctly, the yellow marker is next to the impression made by an ancient lung-fish's upper lip while feeding. I took many more photos, but they all just show impressions of various sizes. However, it is all very impressive.

The building that houses the footprints.

View from the Jump-Up.

Marianne guarding a dinosaur. It was a little chilly with a light breeze. August is often the coldest month in Oz, but I was just wearing a T-shirt. The breeze feels so fresh and clean.

It was a dinosaur of this size that made the larger footprints.

Some of the footprints were left by the parent's child who was playing around.

I was intrigued by this photo of Marianne looking for a bathroom. It looks mysterious with the narrow patch of white from her shirt.

Marianne's brekkie was this stack of corn fritters. I was planning to fib and say that she ordered another round when she polished off the stack, but she only got half-way through.

Austin car show

Last year, we attended a car show in Maryborough that featured Citroens. This year, the brand of choice was Austin. Unfortunately, it was rainy for the Citroens, but it was a glorious winter's day for the Austins and there was quite a crowd. The temperature was about 21 C or 70 F, typical for our area.

Austins were a British car and very popular from the 20's to the 70's. Consequently, there were two rows of cars approximately 100 metres long.

Models from the 20's.

Look how simple the controls were back then. I remembered our recent experience in New Zealand with the Chery rental car where the number of controls and adjustments was huge and confusing.

Bright colours must have been popular back then. In our area, most cars are white because  of the strong sun, or boring grey.

Small engine.

Marianne would have looked good in this. 

It would be 'pedal to the metal' if she drove this car. Maybe not. Oddly enough, she really enjoyed driving our Mini Countryman back in the US because it had zip and handled well.

The weirdest car at the show.

Very spiffy.

Sensible cars for sensible people. 

Outrageous cars for outrageous people. Choice of car is a very personal decision. I tend towards the very practical or the relatively sporty.

These small Austin A30s were cheap and popular. They suited the narrow English lanes, but were not really suited to Aussie conditions.

A couple of Austin 1800's. It was essentially a huge Mini with a transverse engine and an enormous amount of room inside. However, it never became really popular. This video about the car is interesting.

A Wolseley, not strictly an Austin, but part of the same company. If you watch old British films, the Police usually turn up in one of these.

Up-market interior.

I doubt this steering wheel was the original.

An Austin Kimberly, a car that was based on the 1800 and only made in Australia. It was a good car but did not sell well and this is a rare example.

The front end.

The back. Look at that flooring.

From the era of huge comfortable interiors.

Box for the luggage.

A perky red.

A friendly Airedale appeared. We spent some time talking to the owner who was pleased to meet two people who had enjoyed their time with Airedales. Our dogs would enjoy living with us at our current location overlooking the beach. They would really enjoy barking at the other dogs and children walking past. We really miss having a dog, but we are too old now. And we would be expelled from the complex because of our bark-a-phones.

As we entered the show, we passed by this old London Taxi in the parking lot.

I spoke to the owner and mentioned that I had always wanted to sit in a London Taxi but had never done so. He invited me to get in and here I am. It was very roomy.

But this was my favourite car, even though it was not on display.