The concretion Mike found

Avid readers of this blog will remember that Mike found a concretion in the shore platform that we all got excited about: http://dinodreaming.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-week-3-crew-shots.html.  Once it was back in the lab, it looked a lot like fish.  But Dave has started preparing it, and we're starting to hear small excited noises from the lab.  Although he's still trying to figure out what it might be.  Hopefully he'll know more by the time the Field Report is published (mark October 23rd in your diary).

Dig Dates

We will run 3 digs this summer if we can find enough experienced volunteers:
Eric the Red (Crayfish) from 26 November 2010 to 5 December 2010.
Eric the Red (Crayfish) from 26 March 2011 to 3 April 2011.
Flat Rocks, Inverloch from 5 February 2011 to 26 February 2011.

Likely dig dates

The core crew met again at Tooradin this week with Dr Tom Rich.  Tom had exciting news about something Alanna found at the Otways in late 2009.  He's promised to talk about it in the Field Report, so I won't spoil the surprise.

Saturday 23 October will be the Field Report Presentation - at the Museum so that Dave doesn't have to transport the precious fossils far to show them to us.  Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming will get their invitations soon (remember you can join at http://dinosaurdreaming.monash.edu//friends/index.html).

I've got some provisional dates for our loyal crew:
Early December or Late November -  9 days in the Otways (Friday night to Sunday night).  I'll update you again once we've confirmed accommodation availability.
Saturday 5th February to Saturday 26 February - 3 weeks working Flat Rocks and living at Cape Patterson (yes we've found a house that will work for us!)
Late March - another 9 days at the Otways (Friday night to Sunday night).

Which means Friends' day at Flat Rocks will probably be the 13 February.

As mentioned here before, we do not intend to use any new crew on these digs.  We will not be collecting names or conducting interviews.  Each of our experienced crew will be contacted by the organising committee (Dave or Lesley) in the next few weeks and asked to give a fairly firm indication of which of the 5 proposed weeks they can support us for.  Then we will lock in the dates.

House-hunting

A few hardy core volunteers checked out a couple of houses that may be suitable for the 2011 dig (in Wonthaggi and in Harmer's Haven).  Those who were there have, of course already determined which rooms they would sleep in.
It's going to be tough to find a house that will sleep enough people (8 inside is probably a minimum) and has room for tents and rock-breaking areas.  And we really want sewerage and town water connected.  Any digger who has a good idea about where we could find this sort of place please get in contact with Lesley or myself (or leave a comment on the blog and we'll contact you).

Australian Geographic

Check out the latest issue (Jul - Sep 2010) Australian Geographic for an article on Australian dinosaurs including some photos and stories from our dig.

A couple of snippets of Victorian Cretaceous are on-line focusing on the "T. Rex cousin":
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/trex-relative-turns-up-down-under.htm
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/first-illustration-of-australias-trex-cousin-revealed.htm

Planning Meeting in Tooradin

A few of the core crew got together in Tooradin today to talk about 2011, the Bass Coast Booklet and the Field Report.  It's beginning to look like we may have to find a new house to stay at in 2011.  We had rented the same Inverloch house since we started, so that would be a big change!

Jacqui and Andrew get married

Jacqui Tumney and Andrew Stocker, dig volunteers since 2007, got married in a quiet ceremony on Friday May 14th. I twisted their arms so they have shared a few photos. Congratulations!