Mike from North Queensland Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 I had a long weekend available so I decided to go for a short drive out to Richmond in central Queensland Australia and look for Cretaceous marine fossils. Day 1 - After a five hour drive I arrived in time for lunch at the local café attached to the museum where I saw a couple of other regulars I know "fossil hunting fanatics like myself" so I had a quick chat before driving out to the quarry area. After about a half hour I collected some Ichthyosaur bone fragments and belemites to give to the tourists I see at the quarry. I then went to another area where I had found several pairs of shark vertebrae and this time I collected a triple with only the centre one fairly intact. Then I was soon joined by one of the fossil hunting regulars and did a quick scout around the different areas of the quarry but found little of note. We then proceeded to an area where I knew some ammonites had be found where she found a nice specimen encased in the sandstone. Day 2 - I proceeded to search and sieve a dirt heap for a layer of matrix that I had previously found bird material in for about four hours before returning to town for a quick lunch and to get out of the midday sun. Returned to the same spot after lunch for another two hours looking for the matrix material. In total I found about half a bucket of material so will break down and sieve through that in the next couple of weeks. I then returned to the main quarry area where I was introduced to another regular so we chatted while he dug a layer of the quarry that is known for fish. He soon found a nice chimaeroid spine about 300 mm long and I got another bag of matrix to look through. Day 3 - Decided to earn some brownie points by collecting another moon rock (round limestone concretion) for the garden as my wife likes them. Within half an hour from leaving town I had nice round one about 20 kilos in a bag and started carrying it back to my utility. I took about 10 steps and spied a broken moon rock with fossil bone protruding. Had a quick look back at he quarry but nothing of interest so I travelled back to Richmond where I wanted to see the curator as he was interested in some bone fragments with predation marks and some teeth fragments still embedded that I had found a while back. He confirmed what I knew that the moon stone find contained a partial Ichthyosaur skull. While in there chatting another seven fossickers I knew turned up all were staying for another week or so and I had to go home. Finally got away after lunch for the five hour drive home. Half way home I went to pass a road train about 50 metres long and as I pulled out and accelerated the accelerator cable snapped. After about a half hour I rigged a length of string from the end of the broken cable out under the hood and through the window to give me a hand accelerator to drive to the next town about 12 kilometres down the road. Revenge as after many years of my wife and myself running around after my daughter I rang her up and she agreed to pick me up before asking where I had broken down. I took her two and a half hour drive to get me and the same at night to get us home. I still have to return and get my utility when its repaired after a new cable is delivered from the other end of country but still I got a couple of nice finds and still in one piece Some photos of the moon stone showing remains of both sclerotic rings and other cranial elements as well as the shark vertebrae. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 What a story, Mike. Good that you came through just fine. Will you prep the skull stone? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Great write up. Is the curator still Tim? He was a nice fella. "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amour 25 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) Can always send it to me mate, for a closer look see. Looks great from here. Bummer about the cable though. Edited July 9, 2015 by Jeff L Nolan Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 John - Most likely I wont prep the stone any further as initial inspection suggests most of the skull bones are in the sections of the moon stone "concretion" I do not have. I still need to compare it to the papers I have to confirm though. Ash - Tim is still there Jeff - Have got specimen under control I had been meaning to do a write up for a while as I enjoy reading them to see how other members trips go. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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