i really like the way that most museums down here on the southern half of the planet tend to be in the middle of big nice public gardens... whether these be botanic or normal.
the melbourne museum is a "new" addition to the carlton gardens though. the only building originally was the royal exhibition building.
this was the first building given UNESCO heritage statue in australia! making this the second UNESCO site i've been to (i'll do a post on my trip to the burgess shale sometime... it was before i even had a blog!).
its a pretty huge and majestic place. look how small i am compared to all if it!
my favourite part of the exhibition building though was the grandiose fountain it had... even if it wasn't running i could tell this was a top notch fountain. probably pretty old too. i'm not sure there was no sign about it anywhere for me to check.
overall its an impressive building... at least from the outside. i never did get to go inside sadly, but i'd guess it'd be awesome to go through!
right across from the backside of the exhibition building (the side in that last photo) is the melbourne museum.
unlike the exhibition building the museum is not old. rather a very new modern looking facility.
stepping inside the front door i immediately loved what i was seeing. the first thing was an actual life sized great white shark replica!
due to its being in a well lite, and clearly not underwater spot in the museum it didn't freak me out. hey that's two things today (this and the chinese dragon) that i've been brave around and not instantly scarred. maybe the only whiro business has toughened me up?
a very cool first sight to see in the museum. he's definitely the most accurate and life like model of a great white i've seen. which is saying something cause there was a few of them on the museum quest (here, here, and here for example)! the only shark that compares to this guy (and to be honest i couldn't pick one over the other) is the megalodon in new plymouth.
turning around i saw this bad boy (or girl?) an amargasaurus, and okay i saw something else but that can wait a moment...
i'd never seen an amargasaurus before. it was cool to see this bizarre and unique cretaceous sauropod.
sadly i couldn't talk to this individual and find out their story cause it wasn't really them as it were. rather than the actual fossils this was a cast mounted skeleton. meaning all the bones were copies of the originals.
this made sense as amargasaurus is from south america, and as of such not found in australia (which isn't to say they won't be found here. south america and australia were were connected in the early cretaceous... though to be honest it is unlikely that amargasaurus itself was here, but one of its relatives could have been).
as you can see i went a little camera crazy with the pictures of this fellow. it's just i've only seen a few sauropod skeletons in my life. the camarasaurus at the tyrrell and the mamenchisaurus in vancouver are the only two i can think of at moment. their spectacular dinosaurs, and great things to have in a museum. it just seems that i hit a lot of the places that don't have them (you just don't find them in alberta for example!).
anyways remember how i said i saw both the amargasaur and something else. well that something else was ms. rhonwyn... who of course was not only why i was at the museum, but australia in general.
walking up behind her i greeted her... rather than say anything back, next thing i knew her arms were around my neck and i was being picked up in a very tight bear hug.
"you did it!" ms. rhonwyn enthusiastically said as she put me down. just in time too... i was starting to see spots.
"yeah," i didn't know what else to say in response it was kind of obvious i'd done it. not that i wasn't at a total loss for words... my peanut sized brain was overflowing with questions!
just as i was about to ask about things like magic overdoses, mystic gradient radiations, kete o te wananga, maori gods, australia trips, and everything and anything to do with the museum quest... ms. rhonwyn thrown one last curve ball at me (i don't get the term curve ball... aren't balls by definition curved?!?).
"traum i know you have a lot of questions," she stopped me mid blabbering questions out. "i know i've got a few for you too. there's a few things exciting things going on around here today, and i need to deal with them."
i sure didn't like the sounds of these exciting things! not after the last time she said stuff was going on...
"relax traumador," ms. rhonwyn smirked. "it's nothing like the atua stuff at all. in fact i think you'll find a lot of it right up your alley."
wait 'right up your alley'. i knew that line from jurassic park...
before i could think on that more or ask any more of my MANY questions ms. rhonwyn firmly told me. "zip it. whatever you're going to ask can wait. i'm going to setup everything. you wander around the museum and enjoy yourself. i'll meet you in the dinosaur hall in one hour."
she made me agree to definitely stay away from the fossil section, and specifically the dinosaur hall for an hour. as ms. rhonwyn started to head off she concluded by teasing me. "it'll be worth the wait traum. i've got the biggest surprise for you!"
was everything always so mysterious with her? she was hardly ever at the otago at the best of times. when she sends you on a quest around a country she hardly gives you an directions or instructions. finally when you finish a job for her, she can't even stick around to answer some of your questions. it's not even like my questions are stupid (which is saying something considering my brain!).
though i won't lie the surprise has me intrigued. ms. rhonwyn seems pretty darn sure that i'm going to like it. what could it be?
oh well i've only got an hour before i find out. so i'll get back to you people of the web wide world once i've checked out some of the museum.
to be continued...
1 comment:
I like Amargasaurus a lot.
Seems like you're having a great time in Australia!
Post a Comment