After watching a 15-minute documentary about how petrified wood was formed, we wandered through the display in the visitor centre. As we were looking at some examples of items to look for in the area, a girl of about 10yo came up to us, pointed at some petrified wood and proudly informed us “God made that! And that! And that!”. We, for our part, remained quiet, but did wonder why that had not been in the documentary…

There is an area within the park known as the Crystal Forest. It is so named because when it was first became a tourist attraction, people used to be dazzled by the immense number of shiny fragments on the ground. These days, there’s nothing left virtually. With more than one tonne of wood being stolen from the park each month, all those people who have pocketed a crystal for a souvenir have now left the park a wasteland.

The remaining logs weigh several tonnes and there’s no chance of them being stolen in a hurry…

Categories: Travel, Odyssey 2001