Dinosaur Dreaming

Day 3

2012-02-13T22:41:00.001+11:00

Raking seaweed

Sometimes it feels like you're the only one working...

Darren guards the pumps

When the pumps don't work, we form a bucket line

Bucket line

Alan and Andrew succeed in removing overburden

Alan and Andew move a large rock

Norman wheelbarrows all the overburden rock away

Workers waiting for the next shift

Dale succeeds in removing an old rock bolt

The hole crew confers

Fossil finds

2012-02-13T21:03:00.002+11:00

Darren with his first find

Darren's first fossil that he found with his chisel

Mary with her find

Mary's fossil

Lesley with her find

Lesley's find - does this look skully to anyone?

Darren with his second find

Darren's second fossil

Our first backyard campfire

2012-02-13T20:48:00.001+11:00

Last night we had our first backyard capfire of the dig. We didn't burn anything down.

Fossil Finds

2012-02-12T18:22:00.002+11:00

Cross Section of a dino limb bone

Marion's dino centrum

Marion holds her find

Working and having fun

2012-02-12T18:14:00.002+11:00

Lisa, Doris and Dean surveying

Doris, Dean and Mary taking a break

Removing the Bridge

2012-02-12T17:55:00.000+11:00

Plugs and Feathers

Drilling Holes

John Drills holes

The drill bit becomes saturated with rock dust

Andrew bails

Norma cleans rock

The crew shovelling sand

Corrie and Dean move a large rock

The drill has a jackhammer bit

John with the jackhammer

Lisa resting

Week 1 Crew Photo

2012-02-12T17:38:00.000+11:00

We thought we'd take the Week 1 crew photo standing on the "Bridge", since it won't be there much longer! We left the bridge in place so that we could work two smaller holes rather than shoveling out one big one, but the time has come to see what's in it. Removing the bridge will also allow us to access other fossil-rich layers such as the "Base of the Pond".

Back Row: Alan Mary Andrew2 Marion JustAndrew Travis Darren John Gerry Lisa
Front Row: Doris Corrie Lesley Norman Dean Jacqui Dale Eve

Our new T-shirts

2012-02-11T21:11:00.003+11:00

Our gorgeous models from behind

An over-the-shoulder look!

We're working

2012-02-11T21:06:00.001+11:00

Our backyard Rockbreaking stations full of people

Day 1

2012-02-11T21:03:00.005+11:00

Andrew and Jacqui put up their tent

Jacqui works on the tent

Dean takes a measurement

Dean in thought

Dean entering mapping data

Travis finds a cool toe

Travis and Darren move a big rock

John trials his latest invention

Doris holds the measuring stick

Andrew, Eve and Marion at site

We're here!

2012-02-11T09:27:00.001+11:00

Our new-style rockbreaking stations ready for use.

Dig in

2012-02-10T06:34:00.001+11:00

We're off to Flat Rocks!
A few core crew are heading down this afternoon to get the house ready for the 2012 Flat Rocks Field Season starting tomorrow. Showers are predicted for the next fews days but that is not dampening our enthusiasm one bit.

Early Chinese Eurtherian Mammal

2012-02-01T09:50:00.000+11:00

I wish we could find a speciman as complete as this one...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/08/25/3302226.htm?site=science&topic=latest

One from the vaults

2012-02-01T09:22:00.001+11:00

I dont think we've shared this link before - a Kool newspaper article in which Lesley reveals her maiden name!
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/01/05/277641_country-living.html

New T-shirts

2012-01-21T08:24:00.001+11:00

Here's a sneak peek at some 2012 Dinosaur Dreaming T-shirt proofs. The image is by Artist with a disability Joceline Lee, who completed a Museum Victoria residency last year, and had a very successful exhibition, Rendered Bones, as part of the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival. A big thanks to Joceline and Arts Access Victoria for permission to use the image.

Rockbreaking Stations

2012-01-19T14:00:00.001+11:00

Preparations for our Flat Rocks dig are in full swing now that the start is almost upon us. Here is a great photo of Dave cutting bluestone blocks to size for our new lightweight rockbreaking stations.

3D Model of Dig Site

2012-01-08T21:40:00.004+11:00

This is a video of the 3D model that Dean made from all the data points he measured at Flat Rocks. I don't know about everyone else but I think it's really really cool!
Although Gerry's rock is a little bit pointy.
Dean tells me he's planning to refine it this year, and maybe even add some of the sedimentary layers.

New laser measure

2012-01-03T16:50:00.002+11:00

Dinosaur Dreaming is excited to report that we have received a donation of a Bosch GLM 80. This will allow us to take more accurate measurements on site, not to mention leaving our heavier less accurate measuring equipment at home! Big thanks to Ulrike Read, Mario Heimberger and our very own John Wilkins from Bosch Australia for making this happen.

Flat Rocks 2012 - dates

2012-01-03T16:36:00.000+11:00

Saturday 11th February - We arrive and immediately start with early morning tides.
Sunday 26th February - Friend's day is pretty much locked in from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm (for those of you not friends who would like to be please click this link: Friends).
Saturday 3rd March - we pack up the house and head home.

Lisa's MV blog

2011-12-19T13:08:00.002+11:00

Lisa Nink has put together a lovely Museum Victoria blog on how we find fossils in the field. Check it out at:
http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/dec-2011/how-to-dig-for-dinosaurs/

Maybe...

2011-11-29T10:39:00.001+11:00

Gerry grinning

Gerry looks very pleased with his find at Eric the Red West. We're waiting for Dave to check it out back at the museum, but we are about due for another mammal jaw....

Again thanks to Lisa for capturing the moment so well!

Eric the Red Field Crew

2011-11-29T10:35:00.000+11:00

Tom Astrid Gerry Lesley Travis Sarah Erich Mary Dean Dave

The intrepid crew sets out for a day of digging at Eric the Red West, prepared for any sort of weather.

Thanks to Lisa for the photo.

A weekend at Eric the Red: 25-27 November 2011

2011-11-28T19:38:00.001+11:00

We didn't exactly pick the best weekend to spend on the exposed south coast of Victoria. The weather forecast was rain and more rain. However, we are a tough bunch and a bit of rain wasn't going to deter us.

We rendezvoused at Bimbi Caravan Park, near Cape Otway, (a must for koala lovers) on Friday night and made plans for the next day. Saturday dawned grey but no rain. We were hopeful. We got down to the Eric the Red site - still no rain.

The first thing we noticed was the lack of sand, which usually covers most of the shore platform. On this particular morning its absence gave us our first view of the entire fossil layer and its extent. On previous visits to the site, we had glimpsed areas of conglomerate exposed between patches of sand and were unsure of its extent. Now we could see all the layers and we immediately started searching the newly exposed comglomerate for exposed bones.

Above: first bone found in the newly exposed
fossil layer, by Lesley Kool

Right: Cross section through dinosaur limb bone
found by Lesley Kool in the newly exposed area.

Possible turtle pelvic bone found by David Pickering, near the site of the articulated dinosaur skeleton

We were rewarded with the discovery of six exposed bones, weathering on the surface of the shore platform - one in the area where the partial dinosaur skeleton was found six years ago and five bones in the newly exposed area. It was a great start to the weekend and we talked excitedly about future work at the site.

Then the rain came. It started as a drizzle and built up to a miserable drenching downpour. We toughed it out until lunchtime, but then admitted defeat when it became increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the bones and coal in the conglomerate.

Left: Some of the team watching Dave cut out one of the newly discovered bones, while Lisa Nink documented the event for the Museum Victoria blog.

Sadly we walked away from our potential bonanza, vowing to return the next day, weather permitting.

The afternoon passed slowly, with whistful faces watching the rain fall. However, the rain eased over night and Sunday morning was grey but dry. Back to Eric the Red, where David Pickering wanted to sample a number of sections along the length of the exposure. Three areas were chosen and a small amount of rock was collected from each for further processing at Museum Victoria. The rest of the crew sat breaking some of the rock that had been excavated the day before, with interesting results.

Mary Walters found a nice skull fragment and Gerry Kool found what we are all hoping is a mammal jaw. We will know more after Dave has worked his magic on it in the preparation lab at the Museum.

Mary holding her skully fragment. The sun was almost shining!

Gerry and Mary breaking rock while Erich removed one of the newly discovered bones in the background.

The rain held off and 15 bones in total were discovered - 6 surface bones and 9 bones found during rock processing. A great result for two mornings work.

We will definitely be back next year.
Team photo to follow when Lisa (the official photographer) sends it to us.

New documentary

2011-11-22T13:45:00.004+11:00

Ursula, Dave, Rolf, Tony

Dave, Rolf, Tony

A couple of photos taken last Friday when Tony Robinson was filming an episode of his new documentary series at in Dave's lab under the Royal Exhibition Buiding. Ursula Smith works at the Museum and was an extra in one of the "Time Team" episodes. Rolf Schmidt is the Collection Manager of Invertebrate Palaeontology and Dave Pickering (as many of us know) is the Collection Manager of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeobotany.

Rookies with shovels

2011-11-06T21:51:00.002+11:00

Sand flying past Mario

Andrew

Jacquelyn

John joins in

Catherine Gavin and Yoni

Rookies

2011-11-06T21:44:00.002+11:00

Carpark Briefing

Poolside briefing

Travis and Eve

Mario Sue and Mary

Anna Jocelyn and Jacqui

Jacqui and Wendy

Jesse Yoni and Andrew

Peggy Catherine and Gavin

Mike Pip Daniel Rhiana and Jacquelyn

Fossil finds on Rookie's day

2011-11-06T21:29:00.002+11:00

Gavin holds his find

Gavin's limb bone

Travis holds his find

Travis' hollow shaft

Jacqui holds her find

Jacqui's probable partial turtle skull

... during the Field Report presentation

2011-10-24T19:14:00.000+11:00

Some of you might be wondering where the always reliable John W was during the Field Report presentation - well, he was pursuing his other hobby - blacksmithing (see http://www.blacksmithing.com.au/).
Here he is making metal roses at the Collingwood College Spring Fair.

It is good to see our diggers branching out and finding new things to hit with a hammer!

2011 Field Report published!

2011-10-17T16:19:00.003+11:00

Front Cover

Back Cover

We are pleased to announce the publication of our 2011 Field Report. Those crew and Friends who were unable to make the presentation on the weekend will receive theirs in the mail in the next couple of weeks.

Field Reports

2011-10-07T07:56:00.000+11:00

It's a little over a week until our Field Report presentation, and we have (somewhat surprisingly even to us) already finished printing the reports. Big stapling party tomorrow at Alanna's! I hope to see lots of Friends and diggers Sunday 16th October - 1:30 pm at the Museum.

A tonne of chocolate

2011-09-26T08:24:00.002+10:00

Pip stands beside a tonne of chocolate at the Philip Island chocolate factory. It reminds us of the time that Dr Tom Rich promised the first person to find evidence of a Cretaceous mammal a cubic metre of chocolate. At the time, of course, he did not know that any would be found and so had not actually figured out the procurement of delivery details (for those that don't know the story, Tom persuaded Cadbury later to provide enough chocolate to convince the diggers the debt had been paid). We are informed that the process of making a block of choclate that big means that the chocolate itself is not particaulrly nice, but that might just be story to make us feel better about not breaking into it!

Field Report editing...

2011-09-21T19:08:00.000+10:00

The 2011 Field Report is starting to take shape. There is now a real good chance that it will be ready in time for October 16th.

Important Dates

2011-09-07T10:51:00.000+10:00

Field Report Presentation 1:30 pm Sunday October 16th at the Museum (link to become a Friend)
Training for new volunteers ("Rookies Day") Sunday November 7th at Flat Rocks
Current volunteers should be contacted by Lesley in the next few days.

A new dig baby

2011-09-07T10:36:00.001+10:00

A big welcome to Luca Robert who arrived on August 26th.

And a big congrats to Jillian and Anthony, who may need to miss the next dig...

Bass Coast tourism video

2011-08-18T17:33:00.000+10:00

Our Inverloch dig gets featured in the Bass Coast tourism video.
Short version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWL69hQIwnM
long version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUyZWf00ivQ
For those of you with really short attention spans, we're about 3 mins into the long video or 1:20 into the short one. Look for Dave in a starring role.

2011 Field Report submissions

2011-08-17T10:28:00.001+10:00

We've started to receive a few more submissions for the 2011 Field Report. Dr Tim Holland has written a great article about setting up the Explore-a-saurus exhibit at ScienceWorks (exhibit details at http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/whatson/current-exhibitions/exploreasaurus/) that covers such broad topics as dinosaur hands, plumber's pipes and a bloody battle with a T. Rex.

To those readers not crew members (or contributors) remember that it's not too late to reserve your copy of the Field Report (and help us fund the 2012 dig) by joining Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming at http://dinosaurdreaming.monash.edu//friends/index.html.

Our dinosaur tracks

2011-08-10T18:18:00.004+10:00

Check out Science Daily at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110809104301.htm

And the Museum Victoria article at http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/aug-2011/first-victorian-dinosaur-trackway/

And don't forget the story on Dr Tony Martin's blog http://greatcretaceouswalk.blogspot.com/2011/08/dinosaur-tracks-of-milanesia-beach-part.html

Mammal Jaw Movement

2011-08-08T11:33:00.000+10:00

A number of our mammal jaws recently took a trip to Japan. Over there, Dr Tom Rich used some fancy scanning equipment to image partially prepared mammal jaws from the Victorian Cretaceous.
I am starting to hear rumours that the gracile jaw I found and the tiny one that Gerry found are "very interesting". Hopefully Tom will tell us all about it at the Field Report presentation. We're just about ready to lock in Sunday 16th October for this, so crew members and friends should save the date.

Press coverage of of our spinosaur

2011-07-18T12:26:00.000+10:00

Global Post
Live Science
Science
The Conversation
Australian Geographic

Rockbreaking comfort

2011-06-30T12:22:00.001+10:00

Dave has been trialing new lightweight rockbreaking stations for use at the field house next season. Here you can see a couple of prototypes set up in the back yard at Dave and Sarah's house.

Regular diggers should feel free to add any other suggestions as comments - I'll deliver a free fancy coffee to the Flat Rocks site next season to anyone who makes a suggestion that gets incorporated into the new design.

The great flood

2011-06-23T22:33:00.003+10:00

A photo from the bottom of the stairs at the dig site yesterday - thanks Mike!

John builds a stand for our digital microscope

2011-06-22T15:13:00.000+10:00

Remember the digital microscope that Dennis O'Donnell (the Wonthaggi optometrist) donated last year? We’d been finding it a little hard to use since we needed one hand to hold the fossil, one hand to hold the ‘scope, a bit of a jiggle to get it into focus and then quickly use the last remaining hand (or nose) to press the camera button. So I elicited the aid of John in his role as equipment expert, and look what he’s built us! We’ll have fun next year taking close-ups of all the teeth we find.

Otways bone identified as Spinosaur

2011-06-16T21:24:00.000+10:00

Check out the article in today's age:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/tiny-fossil-forces-dinosaur-revision-20110615-1g3w4.html
A bone found by Mike Cleeland and George Caspar in 2005 has been identified as a Spinosaur.

Dino Footprints from Milanesia Beach

2011-06-11T17:01:00.001+10:00

Check out the article in today's age talking about the footprints that Dr Tom Rich and Dr Tony Martin found on their Great Cretaceous Walk.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/walking-in-their-footsteps-on-victorias-dinosaur-trail-20110610-1fx4j.html

Mice

2011-05-24T13:57:00.001+10:00

Lesley reports that mice broke into her shed and ate all of the stored Inverloch supplies. They especially liked the toilet paper. Apparently, they ate all of the tinfoil off some leftover chocolate eggs, but left the chocolate behind. Which does beg the question - how on earth did we manage to have leftover chocolate at the end of a dig?

Likely dig dates

2011-05-24T13:52:00.000+10:00

We have discussed some likely dig dates for the 2011/12 Field Season.

Field Report day in mid October (maybe the 16th)
Training day at Flat Rocks early November (maybe the 6th)
Flat Rocks dig 3 weeks in February (maybe starting the 11th since that gives us the best tides)
Eric the Crayfish dig 10 days in late March (maybe the 24th but we'll need to check with Bimbi)

Regular volunteers and Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming should hear from us shortly.

The old way to map the site

2011-05-23T10:23:00.001+10:00

As part of his project, Dean has us reconstruct the old way of taking position readings at site. Here are the photos.

Flat Rocks mapping weekend - Day 2

2011-05-22T21:13:00.000+10:00

Sunday involved more digging as Dean maps the outline of the old "main" hole, the position of Gerry's Rock, and the Footprint.

Flat Rocks mapping weekend - Day 1

2011-05-22T20:33:00.001+10:00

Dean was able to borrow some surveying equipment from theTAFE, so we took the opportunity to help him and his friend Stuart produce a detailed map of the Flat Rocks site.

Fossils found at Flat Rocks 22 May 2011

2011-05-22T19:27:00.011+10:00

Dave finds a turtle element

And saws it out

Then Dave and Sarah find a limb bone

Mary finds what we think may be part of a turtle pelvis

Alanna and Gerry find the forgotten birthday cake

A nice doggy finds our excavation a good place to swim

I find a fossil

And then Gerry finds two!

So I have to find one more (even if it smashed a little)

Fossils found at Flat Rocks 21 May 2011

2011-05-22T18:59:00.000+10:00

A tiny fossil to start the day

Lisa finds a spongy cross section

Dave finds a tiny shaft and a lamb-chop shaped cross section

Alanna and Wendy work on the field report

2011-04-26T22:02:00.004+10:00

Alanna and I decided that Easter weekend would be a great opportunity to break the back of the 2011 Field Report, and retreated to the quietness of Avenel to concetrate on planning, writing and choosing images.

But first we had to pick the vegetables ripe in the garden:

Then we had to do the crossword (The Age cryptic, of course)

Then perhaps a little bubbly...

The garden needed watering...

Lunch needed assembling...

Time for a little more bubbly...

And then finally a bit of work on the report...

Perhaps some more bubbly...

Dirt needed to be shovelled (onto the garden bed that John and Nick helped build last Christmas)

Until the sun set and we had to call it a day.

We started early the following dawn...

... on a Road Trip to Koonoomoo

Morning tea at the big strawberry

We had to stop at the Cheese Factory!

And now of course, I'm updating the blog and Alanna is learning how to knit

So the Field Report is in safe hands, although we well might still be laying it out he night before it gets printed and distributed!

A dino stood here...

2011-04-16T11:30:00.002+10:00

Late last year Sean Wright and Alan Tait visited Dinosaur Cove and found a loose slab of rock with what may well be dino footprints on it. Last month Alan retrieved them from site and carried 45kg of rock up the cliff and back to the museum! We eagerly await news from the researchers.
Thanks to Sean for the great photo!

Lisa wraps fossils

2011-04-03T21:16:00.000+10:00

Fossils found 3 April

2011-04-03T21:11:00.001+10:00

Cate finds a beautiful vertebra

Lisa finds a tiny smudge

Cate finds a theropod tooth and Roger shows it to Sharyn

Otways 3 April

2011-04-03T21:02:00.002+10:00

The crew shelters from the wind

Roger goes for a walk

... and gets stranded on a rock

Sharyn and Cate bucket rubble

The crew smiles for the camera

Fossils found 2 April

2011-04-03T20:57:00.001+10:00

Sharyn's find

Rohan's find

Wendy's find

Otways 2 April

2011-04-03T20:51:00.000+10:00

The crew at the top of the hill

Mike runs the crew through daily stretching

Rohan carries rocks

Morning tea time!

Cate looking colourful

Mary and Tom share a joke

Tom in red checks

Rohan weilds a hammer

The film crew films

Mary levers off a piece of rock

Otways 31 March

2011-04-01T12:16:00.001+11:00

We found a fossil hammer, buried in the rock from a previous dig. Or could it be a relic from Eric the Red?

Otways 29 March

2011-03-30T14:48:00.001+11:00

The dig crew at Eric The Red West go through their compulsory exercise routine on Tuesday Was great benefit for their backs but unfortunately didn't help to find any bones

Otway crew photo

2011-03-28T21:47:00.000+11:00

Tom Dave Peggy Dean Mary Roger Erich Alanna Alan Travis

Tom Dave Wendy Mary Dean Erich Alanna Alan Roger Travis

"Do something a bit silly"

"Sillier!"

Fossils found 27 March

2011-03-28T21:40:00.000+11:00

Wendy finds a dinosaur claw

The crew finds a big bit of turtle plate

Roger finds a dinosaur vertebra...

... and then finds a shaft in the same rock

We find a great big long dinosaur tibia

Otways 27 March

2011-03-28T21:25:00.001+11:00

The crew get right to work

Alan looks stylish

Peggy looks stylish

Alan hammers

Erich places a chisel

Travis hammers

Erich hammers

The crew sits

Dave walks along the beach

The troops

Tom and Mary confer

We find a dead penguin on the beach

The troops work

Tom carries rocks in a bucket

Roger

Travis

Tom and Erich confer

Roger circles a fossil

Erich and Roger break rock

Pat and Peggy break rock

Roger and Dave confer whilst Lisa breaks rock

Fossils found 26 March

2011-03-28T20:43:00.001+11:00

A beautiful probable ilium

A small fossil with an intresting shape

Otways 26 March

2011-03-28T20:37:00.002+11:00

Mary finds a comfortable rock-breaking position

Peggy identifies the viisting wren

Never trust a grinning Dave

Peggy looks stylish in the cold

Mary and Dave confer

Mary inspects a fossil

The crew working

The crew still working

Dean grins

Dean wants a fossil THIS BIG

The crew working again

Alan and Erich compare notes

Travis carries rock

Alan maps the layers

Alanna inspects the handle of the new sledgehammer

Peggy checks her bag for goodies

Alan splits a rock

Dean swings a sledgy

Dean breaks off a promising piece of rock

Travis breaks a rock

Dean places a chisel

Mary breaks rock

Alanna and Travis enjoy some lunch

Alan holds a rock

Alanna and Travis enjoy the view

Travis checks out the waves

Alan and Alanna head down the beach

Mike and Pip enter the San Remo Channel Challenge

2011-02-27T13:33:00.001+11:00

Mike and Pip at the San Remo Channel Challenge on 19 Feb. The swim is a distance of 550 meters starting at San Remo on the main land and finishing at Newhaven on Phillip Island. The 2 kilometre run is over the picturesque Phillip Island Bridge back to San Remo.
Pip had a wonderful trip back in the life guard boat after making it just over half way out on the swim. Mike finished in the respectable time of 45:03.

Cilla's Museum Video Blog

2011-02-26T17:45:00.000+11:00

Check this out: http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/feb-2011/dinosaur-dreaming/. It's pretty funny and a little close to the bone (see, I can do bad puns too)!

Cleaning up the rock-breaking area

2011-02-26T16:34:00.000+11:00

Pip and Mike liven up a campfire

2011-02-26T16:31:00.000+11:00

Mapping day at site

2011-02-26T16:27:00.000+11:00

Mary's theropod tooth

2011-02-26T16:14:00.000+11:00

Fossils

2011-02-25T07:57:00.000+11:00

Pip and Mary

Jacqui shows Lesley her find

Long bone from hole

Probable ornithopod femur

Dr Tom Rich comes to visit

2011-02-25T07:53:00.000+11:00

Sticky vanilla slice for morning tea

2011-02-25T07:47:00.000+11:00

Andre and Bow start mapping the site

2011-02-25T07:44:00.000+11:00

Andrew removes fish from the Dino Dreaming Pool

2011-02-24T22:05:00.000+11:00

Alan and Danielle put up the banner

2011-02-24T22:04:00.000+11:00

Andrew makes hose water sculptures

2011-02-24T21:54:00.000+11:00

Wonthaggi North Primary School comes to visit

2011-02-24T21:53:00.000+11:00

Mike led the kids on a search through the erratics on the beach

Danielle told them all about our dinosaurs

Andrew lead a scavenger hunt

Fashions in the field

2011-02-23T22:26:00.001+11:00

Norman chooses yellow and Alan plaid

Pink socks make an interesting scarf

Norman and Alan attract seagulls

Mary shows off shades of green

Danielle makes her own cape

Ear plugs add a dash of elan

Sleeves dangle in this film director tribute

Corrie and Norman rest on the trailer

Fossils

2011-02-23T22:19:00.000+11:00

Darren's bone that looks like a bat

Little limb bone from Bridge East

Wendy holds her W-shaped bone

Wendy's W-shaped bone

Wendy holds her toe-like bone

Wendy's toe-like bone

We burn the old wheelbarrow...

2011-02-23T21:59:00.000+11:00

Our interim equipment manager investigates wheelbarrows

2011-02-23T21:56:00.001+11:00

Dave and Lesley find an exciting turtle bit...

2011-02-23T21:53:00.000+11:00

Early Morning at Flat Rocks

2011-02-23T18:21:00.001+11:00

Alan and Hala hammer rocks

Rohan watches the pumps

Beautiful morning scenes

Corrie dives in the water to retrieve rocks

Hala contines to hammer

Wendy entertains Norman whilst breaking rock

Jillian and Jacqui share a joke

Fashions in the Field - purple gloves

The crew keeps working

Alan runs across the beach with a wheelbarrow

Fashions in the field - Danielle

Lesley and Dave confer

Corrie

Morning Tea time!

Darren finds a small limb bone and Dave saws it out

The crew keeps on working

Crew photo Week 3

2011-02-22T18:04:00.001+11:00

Dave Rohan Hala Darren Danielle Andrew Corrie Alan
Mary Jillian Jacqui Lesley Norman Wendy

Dave carves Mary's initials in her rock

2011-02-22T17:37:00.000+11:00

Weather

2011-02-20T12:45:00.000+11:00

Gerry finds a bone

2011-02-20T12:42:00.002+11:00

Cool shots from Lesley's camera

2011-02-20T12:31:00.002+11:00

Cool shots from Paul Smith's camera

2011-02-20T11:52:00.000+11:00

Crew photo Week 2

2011-02-20T11:34:00.000+11:00

Dave Peggy Wendy Paul Chris Gabi Win Paul Sharyn Dean
Lesley Lisa Nicole Jesse Mary Astrid Alan

Week 2 Bones of the Day

2011-02-19T20:49:00.000+11:00

Sun 13 Feb - No prize awarded
Mon 14 Feb - Femur from the hole
Tues 15 Feb - Hollow limb from the hole team

Wed 16 Feb - Turtle Humerus

Thu 17 Feb - Probable Tibia from the Far East team

Fri 18 Feb - Dean's Ornithopod Tooth.

Sat 19th Feb: Jackpot

Astrid swims in the dig hole

2011-02-18T18:58:00.001+11:00

Dig update

2011-02-18T12:44:00.000+11:00

Hi Team,
We're just about at the end of week 2, and the tides are getting less freindly to digging at the beach. The "Engineering crew" removing overburden at Far East have been working themselves ragged each day - some of them have been too tired to shower even (they know who they are!)
Speking of showers, it is becoming slowly and increasing obvious that we should really think about a shower roster since if we try to run both showers at once, or a shower and the pump-cleaning hose, or a shower and the kitchen tap, or a shower whilst anyone flushes after a call of nature, there is a bit of waiting around hopefully dripping. Perhaps some sort of system is in order...
Paul Smith is helping look after the equipment the week, and has moved into the downstairs bedroom and taken the name "John-Paul" in honour of his predecessor (seriously, he's doing a great job considering the suddenness of the request and the short "one-handed" skills transfer session - but don't tell him that!).
We've finally found a few more fossils on the beach - I wrapped 19 yesterday (not counting the probable tibia that was too big to wrap). It's been a bit of a slog to get to the good layer and the crew has been complaining bitterly about the quality of the rock. The crew is likely to still compain bitterly about the rock, since that is one of the main forms of entertainment on the dig, but hopefully from now on with less cause!
The weather predictions have been for rain and storms, but so far the weather's been pretty good - one cancelled beach day and one mad scurry off the beach ahead of the storm clouds. Else we've been lucky and even sneaking in a few swim o'clocks.
Cheers,
Wendy.

Backyard Shots

2011-02-18T12:27:00.000+11:00

Site shots

2011-02-18T12:13:00.000+11:00

Happy working crew

Pacific Gull

Rohan checks the resource kit for the TAFE visit

Mary and Rohan discuss a show-and-tell speciman

We get a visit from Peggy's friend Dean, a throat singer

Dean gives Astrid a Didgeredoo massage

Dave determines our wheelbarrow is not a good boat

2011-02-17T08:37:00.000+11:00

"Dermal Ossicle" by Peggy Cole

2011-02-17T08:32:00.000+11:00

The Dermal Ossicle
Is a very fine fossicle.
So please don't tossicle
You'll make Lesley crossicle.

Dig so far

2011-02-16T09:16:00.002+11:00

Hi Team,
So we're about half way through the 2011 Flat Rocks season already. Hard to believe.
The first week we tried out a new site, "Swim O'clock rock", 100m down the beach from Flat Rocks. We picked this site because we had found a large number of bones on the surface and believed it to be an ancient log jam. We mapped it extensively and broke up quite a bit of rock. We were not expecting it to yield as many bones as the main site, and it didn't. A useful experiment, though.
We started with some cold and slightly damp weather, which meant that we only really started having swim o'clock breaks on the beach this week. We have been sharing our pond with a couple of small rays which is way cool. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is not looking good, either.
We've been working "Bridge East" and removing overburden from "Far East" and "Mid East" this week. A lot of drilling, hammering and hauling of sandstone in our wheelbarrow. We even had to buy a new wheelbarrow since ours was falling apart under the strain.

We have a new dig towing vehicle, the "Bum Biter" ute leant to us by Mike C. Now the real problem: finding vollies brave enough to drive it!

We have had a couple of trips to Wonthaggi Hospital Casuality this dig (which we're not happy about: we pride ourselves on our safety awareness), including with John our excavation manager who has had to go home with a handful of stitches. He is much missed, and not only because of his uncanny ability to make our reluctant pumps sing!

The new house is two storeys, and we are discovering that much of our cutlery and mugs end up downstairs when we want them upstairs, and upstairs when we want them downstairs. And, since it is a new house and we're not really good at knowing exactly what we need, I keep phoning Nicole with requests for things such as serving spoons and cutting boards.

The Wyatts who owned the house we used to rent generously gave us a bunch of towels and sheets and other stuff that they no longer needed now that they have permanently moved in to Lavington street, and that has made things a bit easier!
Regular dig attendees will be delighted to learn that there are just as many jum ping jacks in the backyard of the new house as there were in the old one.

Nicole has not been able to go down to site this year, so mnay thanks to the other "public liaison officers" who have stepped up - in particular Mike C, Kat and Lisa.

Anyway, great to catch up, but I need to go hit some rock with a hammer and find that elusive theropod jaw...

Wendy.