Dinostory: Dinosaur Sculptures made from Sand

Dinostory is an exhibition of sand sculptures, featuring dinosaurs, that my partner and I went along to view at Port Adelaide, South Australia. Unfortunately, the week before we'd experienced some very heavy, rainy weather, so many of the sculptures had been extremely damaged (very visible in my photo) whilst others had stood up to the elements slightly better.

I do hope that the creators of this exhibition, Sand Sculpting Australia, will attempt to make some repairs because at AU$9.50 for Adults, with eight severely damaged sculptures (one was almost unrecognizable), we did feel a little cheated. Whilst I understand that the weather can't be controlled it does seem like there was no plan to protect the sculptures should such weather occur. At the very least, a reduced entry fee would have been appropriate.

That aside, what remained of the sculptures, all extremely large I might add, were quite impressive and highly detailed.

Dinostory is clearly targeted at children and is intended to be somewhat educational. The dinosaur sculptures are all linked together by the idea of a story book about dinosaurs being read to a boy by his grandfather on Christmas Morning.

It's a nice idea but the story isn't really extended into the rest of the exhibits which are simply labeled with the various dinosaur names. To learn about each dinosaur requires reading of the program guide which isn't in 'kid speak' and is perhaps intended to give parents a few pointers of information that they can relate to their own children.

On the positive side, if you do have young children, then the sand sculpting activities and playground within the exhibition area make the whole thing much better value.

Despite the damage, the sculptures are still a wonderful example of this art form. If you have kids it'll still be impressive to them. However, if you don't then you may question if the entry fee is really good value for money?

Dinostory is on display at Port Adelaide (next to the lighthouse and markets) from December 8, 2007 until January 26, 2008.

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