The Centre has interpretive displays including unique world-class fossils - whales, dolphins, penguins, sharks and many shellfish.
TheTrail introduces some key geological localities in North Otago, both near the Centre and beyond. Together, the Centre and Trail will give you a feeling of "deep time," so that you can better understand the origins of our land and its living creatures. Both the Centre and Trail receive valuable support from Friends of Vanished World.
As you travel along the Vanished World Trail, you will often see spectacular limestone outcrops. As you look at the limestone, consider that it started out as yellow-white sand, made mainly of fossil fragments, that washed about on the sea floor, 100 m below the sea surface some 24-26 million years ago. Look up to imagine the water above your head. What would you see swimming around? The limestones of the Waitaki region have "captured" the inhabitants of the ancient sea - many shellfish, sharks, large fish, penguins, whales and dolphins - and it is these that we now bring to you.