I am now back in Perth and writing from the comfort of being both indoors and 10 metres away from the nearest toilet. The satellite was dismantled by the time I emerged from the cave on my last day at the Nullarbor so I couldn't post my goodbye and thank you's.
Well I've been the guys that been behind-the-scenes on all this (even more so than the individuals on the portraits video). But, I am busily checking the servers each morning at 6am for new videos, transcribing them, compressing for web, and ensuring the videos are ready for the world to see. And there is a great feeling being the very first to see all of this (except in the field of course), and be facilitating the world to share these discoveries in close to real time.
This video documents the process of finding a partial Thylacaleo skeleton, and the difficulties that can sometimes arise when moving around such tight spaces.
This video diary looks at an amazing new discovery - a possible new a species of eagle or other large bird - a spectacular discovery found in the lower layers of sediment in Pit B.
It's been raining over the past two days. The water turns the red clay into thick mud, and as you walk, the mud attaches to the soles of your feet and soon enough you're walking around with a pair of slippery mud bricks under your feet. It can get pretty heavy!
Our 2009 trip to Leaena’s Breath Cave was beset by wind and rain, balanced by some great finds underground. The last couple of days on this trip have been eerily reminiscent with several tents suffering from broken poles and leaking holes, including mine, which is leaking like a sieve through the floor. And of course everyone has wet clothes and most annoyingly wet socks and boots!
Today Sam Arman and I are working on getting some reconstruction results from the data we've been collecting over the past two days. Sam is using a total station to collect 3D data points to form a rough reconstruction. I'll be processing video footage and stills to produce higher resolution partial reconstructions with texture and hopefully we can merge the two to form a consolidated 3D model.
Here's a preliminary reconstruction of the cave interior provided by Sam, it's the top view of the ceiling. The length from the leftmost point to the rightmost point is about 78 metres.
That's all folks
Minh Tran
I am now back in Perth and writing from the comfort of being both indoors and 10 metres away from the nearest toilet. The satellite was dismantled by the time I emerged from the cave on my last day at the Nullarbor so I couldn't post my goodbye and thank you's.
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