Nui Nauhea
Australasia's 'Neo-Dinosaurs'

You're walking along an isolated old track in the outback. Insects buzz and birds chirp, the sun is shining and untamed nature takes pride in its beauty. Yet, you are uneasy. What was that sound? Probably just some feral cat snarling at a snake, you tell yourself. But just as you start to walk again, ther eit is, that deep, throaty growl. Your eyes dart all about the place. You jump when you snzp a twig beneath your feet. This is getting ridiculous. There's nothing to be afraid of out here in Oz. Nothing man-eating out here.
WHAM! You're struck from behind and a monstrous face emerges, hissing at you. Thinking fast you grab a fallen branch and whack the creature with it. It falls off your back, and you run. From behind you, you hear it scream, a primal screech from some hideous prehistoric abomination. The cry echoes from the distance till at last you find civilization.

Strangely enough, John Matthews swears this is a true story and that he was attacked by none other than a dinosaur in the australian desert.

He first contacted me about a month after I opened my 'Burrunjor' thread, which chronicled sightings of a tyrannosaurus-like beastie stomping around in the outback. I was, and still am, naturally skeptical of his story, but despite having little but his word that he is being honest, I have no reason to be certain he is lying. Apart, of course from the fact that dinosaurs are dead. Long dead.

I'm not the first to be interested in these modern Australian dinosaurs though, not by a long shot. Mr.Rex Gilroy, the self proclaimed father of cryptozoology in Australia originally bought many Burrunjor sightings to light and presented his 'Neo-Dinosaur' theory in his book Out of the Dreamtime. His theory states that dinosaurs evolved in Australia, and due to its isolation from the rest of the world, the Pacific has managed to evolve a few stranded dinosaur species long after their extinction in the rest of the world.

Although I question Gilroys credence (And, on occasion, sanity!) it is a good-enough theory, with a few holes that a bit of imagination can fix. But whatever caused these Neo-dinosaurs to arise in the Pacific does not matter, the beasts themselves are many, varied, weird and wonderful.

Australia holds almost a monopoly on the Pacifics dinosaur population, laying claim to Burrunjor, Kulta, Gaurange, the Meheme and many more, but it is almost beat by that real-life lost world, Papa New Guinea, home to the ridiculously unbelievable 'Row' (Obviously a hoax), a living tyrannosaurus, a sauropod, a ceratopsian, and a Carnotaurus-like animal. Other dinosaurs are scattered across the islands, with even Hawaii having an elusive little brontosaurus. But what of my beloved New Zealand? Do we not earn a dinosaur?

Despite occasional sea monster sightings, even less requent moa sightings and a few rarities in-between (A giant Kangaroo reported from the Bay of Sounds, and two Jackal-like creatures which apparentally resembled a platypus!) New Zealand lacks the virtual gold mine of dinosaurs other Pacific countries do.

So when I discovered the tiny newspaper article "'Monster' emerges in Canterbury" I was overjoyed.

The article described a local tramper, Edward (Eddy) Longs, claims to have been disturbed by a growling animal outsid his tramping hut late at night. Upon going outside to check what it was he slashed by the animals front claws (Suffering only very minor wounds), so he locked the door and could barely sleep till he could not hear its growls anymore.

I eMailed Eddy about the incident, although he was reluctant to stay in contact due to being laughed at by his peers for the story, and he gave me a more full description: A green, scaly animal on two legs, with an extremely long tail. Sadly, he did not get a good veiw of the beasts head.

Intrigued I contacted the Department of Conservation, also by eMail, asking for a list of sightings which matched that description. There were 32! Thirty Two! THIRTY TWO! A full 32 sightings had been slowly collected from trampers, hikers, even their own scientests had seen the beast! Most reports had come from earlier days, and others had been poorly noted.

But by far the most fascinating was this report:

"After some time, he discovered the smell was that of a slightly rotted corpse, suspended three metres above the ground in the thick vines. Climbing up a rata trunk he was interested by the carcasses unusual appearence. He believed it to be a human sized, two footed lizard of a strikingly saurian nature. Due to the smell and the creatures heaviness, he tore off the head of the animal, the skull of which is to be sent to the Wellington museum for study."

Then what on earth happened to the skull?! This report was from 1960, and must have been acknowledged to be fact by the DoC, otherwise they wouldn't have noted it! So what happened to the skull? The DoC was sorry to say they could not help me find the skull as it had been shipped to Wellington on a ship which struck rocks, and almost sunk just outside the harbour, losing most of its cargo in the process.

In short, prehaps the greatest discovery in the field of biology ever made was lost forever.

Even so, I do not give up hope on this mystery beastie, who I suspect might be a large lizard of a hitherto undescribed kind. It has been exciting unravelling this little homegrown mystery, and I hope you will join me in the search to uncover the truth! (Or the BS, whichever it turns out to be ) I have named it Nui Nauhea, Maori for 'Great Monster', a new cryptid, and hopefully, one day, an exotic real-life monster.

- UDS

Oh, if you would like the full list of sightings please PM me as I am condesning them into a small, readable format.

could it have been a large komodo dragon? or less likely, but more plausible than the dino theory, is the megelania?

Incredible! Thank you very much, Undead, this is one of the most interesting topics I've read in a while. Keep it up!

Alas, if only I was closer. I would love to explore that area and do a little bit of dino-hunting, but that is kind of hard to do from the other side of the world! But please, keep me updated, I'd love to hear any news if you find something interesting.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGG!! Of course, the skull had to be lost! Pity that always seems to happen with any interesting piece of "evidence". By chance, do you happen to know the name of the ship?

But very, very, very, interesting, regardless of the lost skull. I'd love to find out more! (Sort of ironic that he brought "dinosaur" sightings to light, and his name happened to be Rex, eh?)

And there's nothing greater than uncovering a pile of bs! (Or previously unknown type of animal/dinosaur, which is probably more preferable)

My personal theory is that it is a large lizard like the Komodo, yea. Very interesting to google is the Kumi, in Maori legend it is a HUGE lizard, just a tiny bit smaller than Megalania, that was hunted into rarity by the Maori and the European settlers. It is treated as a very real creature, the last sighting with the name Kumi attached was in 1970, and the animal was considered such a real threat that the police were called in to search for it!

Thanks Otterclaw, always a pleasure! Also its great to see you back on the crypto board, have you been gone a while?



Otterclaw, with your precocious intelligence you'll be making the big bucks in no time at all! Fly over an we'll go a dino-huntin'! I'd come over and search for bigfoot with you but theres no money in art Culture wasteland that the world is today... mumble... groan... whippersnappers...



Aint that way Imagine the day they find a dragon...
"We've captured a real-live Dragon!"
"Yeah, but it made this sorta annoying noise so we let it go."

Yeah, it was the Arahura, which is now a popular ferry across the Cook Strait. I'm guessing it got upgraded, or the ferry stole its name lol.



Hehe... good ole Rex Gilroy. I met him this feburary actually when he went on his 'Moa' hunt in the Urewera's. Nice guy, actually. But I have a little grudge against because he declined my request for a free copy of his book Now I'm working up the money for a copy ($100 with handling and shipping!!!! ONE HUNDRED FREAKING BUCKS for that crap!)



I do believe that 32 sightings without knowledge of one another must have a grain of truth in 'em though, eh?

Thanks, good to be back. I have been gone for a few days, (sister's wedding, and of course she had to have it far away) and I havn't been very active for the past week. It's always nice to be able to go through more pages and read new topics, gives you something to think about!

But I can definitely feel you with the dragon-thing. I can just see a TV interview now with Bigfoot...

"Yeah, me and Billy had it all locked up in a cage and everything!"

"Yeah, it was pretty amazing! But it did this thing - you know, where they look at you with this, you know, sort of human gaze and I got all, you know, creeped out like something ain't going right?"

"So we let it go."

But the skull really is too bad. I feel like demanding people to go down and dive around the site to try to see if they can find anything. Wishful thinking, I know...

We should probably ditch the bigfoot, idea, though. We'll most likely just end up getting chased around by some hairy hillbillies with shot guns and mangy dogs. I'd much rather get eaten by a dinosaur.

And I am so envious of you! (Regardless that he didn't let you get the book. I resent paying thirty dollars for a book! Mutter...mutter...complain...) You have met so many interesting people! The only interesting people I ever come in contact with are our eccentric neighbors. You began to feel creeped out as you wonder, "Oh my God! Am I becoming like THEM?!"

Well, UDS. I hope that there is something there, the world can always use more wonder. As much as I'd love it if any of the dinosauria had survived, they were such successful creatures that it seems unlikely they would remain a niche species for long (look at how well their reletives, corcs and birds have done). It seems more likely that it may be some large species of lizard or reptile, instead (hoping that it is real at all).

As for the dragons bit, I'm sure we'll hear more on that . Seriously though, if dragons were more than just animals, anyone who captured one might well loose it, or release the creature, or run.

We outta sign a petition or somthing to get divers down there, eh?

Yeah, being mauled by a dinosaur is a lot more appealing than ending up dead at the feet of some hick with a gun! Actually, quite a lot of things are!

Eccentric neighbours? Go on?

If I caught a dragon I'd sell it and make a mint mate!

I certainly believe some reptile inspired the story, hopefully there really is a big lizard out there in the bush. A dinosaur would be better, sure, but any undiscovered creature is good for me. Another unlikely, but interesting possibility is that the Nui Nauhea is a relative of the prehistoric australian bipedal land crocodiles? Know anything about them Archosaur? I know a little bit but any information an expert can give me is well-appreciated.

Your very own Cryptid, most cool my friend.
You guys are missing out for sure. A story came out of PNG in 2004 claimimg Hadrosaur's on the Northern part of the Island. We had arctic Dinosaurs. Leaellynasaurus. Why no Kiwi dino's indeed. I have been over there and personally drank enough DB bitter and Lion Red to see one.
Wierd colour that DB. Got pretty used to it over there though.

Where the heck does Rex keep finding this stuff.........


Like the name

$100.00 ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

WTF?????????????????????????

On land crocs, it's news to me that there were any bi-pedal species. Some of today's extent crocs (the smaller ones) can move rapidly on land, with an erect gait holding the belly off the ground. Strong muscles in the back, attached to the back scutes allow them to hold such an erect posture. Very massive crocs, however, seem unable to muster the strength to have such a gait.

I must agree that any of the creatures you mention discovering would be a treasure, and should be captured alive, and preserved. I was recently appalled to hear of calls for a widespread cull of all saltwater crocodiles, not simply nuscience animals. Such an impressive creature would seem to me to be a national treasure: the closest any of us are likely to see to a dinosaur. far from driving tourists away, the chance to see this creature would be a consideration for my visiting your fair land. Imagine the sensation of a land croc, dinosaur, or other extraordinary creature.

im very baffled on why such stories always involve physical evidence, but are somewhat magically forgotten about, or lost

Aint that the way. Who's the old gal in your new avatar?



A cull of all salties? That is idiotic and unbelievably ignorant in so many ways. Surely no government would take such a monstrous idea? The entire ecosytem would collapse in Aussies waters, salties are vital. Your point about tourism is very nice, I appluad you sir.

Yeah it's a real chick magnet



It's ridiculous, really it is! I always like the story of Leaellynasaurus, about it being named after their daughter and everything, so sweet.



I got pretty used to it two fridays ago... my head still hurts

Yeah, over here in Aotearoa's where the brews at, thats for sure. You aussies may lay claim to the stronger stuff but quietly, almost secretly, we all know the kiwi's drink more of it...



Chrystal Meth helps.

OMG, I almost forgot! Rex has started a new forum for those interested in Australasian mystery monsters! I'm signed up as Undeadskeptic, you should get an account.



:wuv: Gee thanks mister! This christmas just keeps gettin' betta!



I know!!! I was sitting right next to the guy and he told me I had to pay for Postage and Handling!!!? WTF?

What for? The $30 train ride from his hand to mine?

why do living dinosaurs deserve any merit? all alleged reports of living dinos easily are 30 ft and up. their must be a couple 1000 of them. even in africa, you would notice them. i think we would have found a huge living dino by now.

isnt their bones of a dino larger than a whale? (brukahsaurs?)

Nui Nahuhea is described as only human sized, definately not 30 ft.

ohh, i gotcha. if its human sized "dinos" living in remote austrailia, im very skeptical about it. even 99 percent of australia is explored and documented. the areas where megalania is reported can give us good insight if the sighting was caused by a komodo dragon, which easily average 6 ft and up.

their r also legends of australlia having a creature a teed bit bigger than the komodo dragon, around 11 ft from head to tail, but it sometimes can appear as blue? (im not sure, could this be due to evolutionary adaption to the area)

I am officially a poltergeist!!! Woot! Champagne for everyone!

well send me the booze!! if we are all hammered, we can party with nessie and bigfoot!

Explored, yes. Documented, yes. So yes its very unlikely, but its not like any other cryptid is more likely.

The blue goanna? I think there is a legend like that, I'll google it now.

holla dat!

im not sure if their is a blue dragon, but ive heard that in aussie their is a medium sized monitor/dragon which arent that big (6 11ft (11ft being incredible) that change colors when nervous or in danger? im not sure, but i have plenty of friends from different countries, some of them love telling tall tales and legends, but i dont think its one of them

Hehe, Rexy is full of entertainment......

New forum eh , I have got to see this...........................

I went back to where I gew up over the weekend - centenary celebration. Great stuff. I hear we have Ostriches running around rural Australia as well now. With the Deer and the ABC's this place is going to be better for safari than Africa.
I better get an appropriate suit................

Sounds like he could use a few pointers in his sales approach........

Entertaining as an acid trip, that guy.



Anyone up for a rhino?

I posted the link here before to the bipedal crocs of the Eocene that hunted mammals and had hoove like hind feet because of all of their running. I think it is in the 'last' closed dragon thread, but maybe the crocodile one. Australia also had a land croc called the Qunikana, but I never read of it being bipedal, but then, its fossils are very rare.

There already is a monitor in Australia that could be US's mystery beast. It is called the Perentie, or Lace monitor, and it grows over six feet long and has a "long tail". The Males DO rear up on their hind legs and "grapple" other males. with their claws. A very testosterone charged male might mistake a standing human as another male Perentie "challenging" it. This is the logical explanation because no one was bitten as would be the case if they creatures considered the humans "prey". And they really are not large enough to consider a human food.
If these were a larger reptile, like Megalania, I doubt the people would have survived to tell the story. It would be doing more than "grappling" them.

If Australia again began to indiscriminately slaughter its crocodiles, it would be a disgrace, but just consider the origins of the majority of its orignal 'white' population.

You know, I find it way, way more likely that these are some sort of genetically regressive experiments like with what they're trying to do with emus than dinosaurs. Biological weapons, strange experiments, hell even a new species of featherless ground-dwelling bird. NOT dinosaurs, we really must avoid using that term here! Much as we like to find an analogy to something known, there's no way it's a dinosaur. A Mohawk might see a tiger whilst traveling in India and call it a panther, but this does not mean panthers are in India. Just because someone sees a creature and calls it a dinosaur does not mean we should base our investigation from that starting point.

I like the theory about the lace monitors, but even though they do get quite long they are still rather slight beasts (beautiful too!) and I don't think an adult human would be mistaken for another monitor so much as a threat. It could be that the "witness" is just exaggerating a bit though.

Wraithgod! You are back! *Collapses with pure joy* *and over-exposure to the sun*

Qunikana, that's what I was thinking of. I have always considered it to be bipedal after seing an artists depiction of one at a museum exhibit, and its fosil was shown on two feet. Don't know how much evidence they have backing that up though. A monitor lizard (like the perentie you mention below) is far more likely.

(I like the use of the word last in comma's... there's always another dragon thread)



That is a very decent and rational explanation. The other Australian 'neo-dinosaurs', particularly Burrunjor, could easily be garbled accounts of the same phenomena; large monitors running two footed.

I still hold out hope for Megalania. In a recent Rex Gilroy search (NOT by any means that I trust Rex Gilroy entirely, he and his wife Heather nailed peices of steak on a high branch of a tree. When they returned, the steak had been mostly devoured. Luckily they set up cameras in the aea and are getting the results back soon.

Hahahaha, the only problem with a petition is getting people to sign it. If you have something about animal abuse, just get a cute picture of a puppy on it and start raking in the signatures...but I see no relation in between cute puppies and dino skulls.

Yeah, at least I would die very happy. I would probably be fainting in joy at discovering a live dinosaur, so getting eaten probably wouldn't be too bad.

Hahaha, where do I begin? Seriously, I doubt that there is a single sane person in our town, really. (If you can call it that) There's my painter friend, the native-american wanna-be, the homeless leather guy, the shot-gun wielding hicks, and of course the many, many incredible people in our town that merely are short a couple thousand marbles.

I really need to start a topic where I post all of the amazing stories many of them have told me. None of them are half as interesting as yours, though...

LOL! LMAO!

YES! PLEASE do start a new thread, it would be the best thing ever to happen to this Crypto forum (Or more appropriately, "Dragons and Bigfoot" forum )