Day 14 - Rocks galore!

The drought is over - we have rocks galore!

A happy Dino Dredge gleefully observes 24 buckets of rocks trawled in at midnight this morning.

We have successfully sampled a fresh scarp of the Louisiad Plateau, which is a big deal for us. Over the coming days we will sample lots of different scarps all over the plateau to get a representative idea of its composition, and whether it is a fragment of continental lithosphere that has rifted off Australia millions of years ago.

I got it from my mummy

No, we didn’t lose anyone at sea. This was a “theoretical” talk by Quinn Anderson, from the University of Sydney, on how to mummify a body.

Fun fact: during the mummification process, the brains are scrambled up inside the skull using a long hook and pulled out through the nose.

Quinn presented an excellent talk on Ancient Egypt and the ceremony involved in mummifying a body and the spiritual reasons for doing so. She did a fine job. Her favourite mummy, Horace, would be proud. And of course her biological mummy, Jacqui - a big shout out!

Halfway point

Today also marks the halfway point in our voyage. Everyone is getting along well and in high spirits. After our shift there was even time to enjoy the sun on the deck as we transited to another dredge site.

Last updated on Jun 14, 2022