The task for first day of The Green Man's trip to Perth was to fill in time while Mrs Green Man attended a conference, which was the reason for being over there. Faced with this task where better to occupy the better part of the day than the magnificent Kings Park.

Kings Park is situated on a hill overlooking Perth and the Swan River. It houses 400 hectares of land dedicated to the preservation of the natural flora and fauna of the area, which, like that of most of Australia is quite austere and unappealling to eyes accustomed to the rich greens of Europe.

The vegitation of Australia is old and unlike any other, evolving independantly from the rest of the world. Accordingly is was with some delight that The Green Man stumbled across a Muttaburrasaurus protecting it's nest within a small recreational area that is housed within the park. Unlike most of its relatives that died out around 90 million years ago this magnificent specimen survived by adopting the unusual strategy of being made of concrete.

These large lizards roamed most of Australia grazing on the vegitation of the time, like Macrozamia. Grasses as we know them had not evolved at this stage and the landscape was covered with these large palmlike plants which have the distinction of having the largest seed pod in the world.

The ones you can see in the photo to the left are located in northern Queensland near Muttaburra, the town which gave the Muttaburrasaurus its name. These ancient cycads are well adapted to the semi-arid terrain that is characteristic of so much of Australia.