We stared at the Megaraptor standing on the other side of our fire. It smelled the smoke-filled air then took several slow steps towards the fire.
‘So much for the fire keeping us safe,’ Clare whispered. ‘He looks curious.’ It started sniffing at the ground where we had been sitting and eating. Clare had dropped a ham and cheese sandwich, the Megaraptor was quick to snaffle it up. It sniffed at the remains of my apple. To my surprise , it gobbled it up too. Then it moved onto the chocolate Luke had dropped. - an extract from Fossil Frenzy the Adamson Adventures 3.
Did the Megaraptor eat Luke’s chocolate? What happened next? You’ll have to read Fossil Frenzy if you want to find out.
Every good story needs a good antagonist, or villain. In Fossil Frenzy it is the Megaraptors that roamed Australia during the late Cretaceous period. The most famous one is a raptor named ‘Banjo.’ He is an Australovenator Wintonensis. I first encountered this fellow during a visit to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Winton, Queensland. A replica of him stands out the front of the museum. I became fascinated with this dinosaur, he was a raptor bigger than the usual ones you see in the movies. I knew kids would find him interesting too. When I did my research for the story, only the remains of one of these fossils had been found,. However, I have it on good authority, (a dinosaur expert aged 10 at a recent school visit) that they have now found the remains of a second one.
Banjo- Australoventator Wintonensis found outside the Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton.
Banjo stood about two metres tall, had sharp claws and was a very fast carnivore. He was found in a dried up river bed or billabong alongside a massive sauropod. This specimen the palaeontologists named Matilda. Diamantinasaurus Matildae was a large herbivorous dinosaur that was also around during the late Cretaceous period. So far only two of these sauropods have been found in the Winton area. However the museum is also a working science laboratory with many fossils still to be cleaned and pieced together, much like a giant jig-saw puzzle. They may find more of both of these dinosaurs yet.
Matilda - Diamantinasarus Matildae, found in the Winton, Queensland region.
When I have told the kids at school visits the reason for the naming of these two dinosaurs, they are amazed. A herbivore named Matilda and a carnivore named Banjo found beside an old billabong as if they came from the famous poem, Waltzing Matilda, by well known Australian poet, Banjo Patterson, who by the way, happened to have lived in the Winton area for some time. Pretty awesome don’t you think?
During school visits we have also looked at the full size footprint of an Australovenator Wintonenis and compared it with the size of a human footprint. The kids take amazing guesses at how many human feet can fit inside the fossil. How many do you think?
Footprint of an Australovenator Wintonensis drawn to scale.
How many of your feet would fit inside Banjo’s footprint?
Inside the pages of Fossil Frenzy you will also find an armoured plated Ankylosaur and a Qantassaurus named after our national airline that had its beginnings in the Winton/Longreach area. but I am not going into any details of these two curious creatures here, you will need to research those yourself. Not too many spoilers here.
Qantassaurus information at the Daintree Discovery Centre
A replica of Qantassaurus from the Daintree Discovery Centre.
Fossil Frenzy is a thrilling and fun time-traveling adventure from the drought-stricken outback of present day, to the rainforests of millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed Gwandana. It is a fiction story filled with plenty of facts for the avid reader to digest. It bridges the gap between those readers who only read non-fiction and leads them into reading fiction with adventure and knowledge. It also encourages fiction readers to learn a little along the way. It is suitable for readers aged 7 -12 years and anyone who loves a dino adventure.
Me standing with a copy of Fossil Frenzy in front of a dinosaur fossil at the National Dinosaur Museum.
Are you fascinated by dinosaurs?
Which dinosaur is your favourite?
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