Dinosaur Dreaming

Pumping out the water

While all the uncovering goes on, the bottom section of the rock pool (partly formed by the previous years' digging) has to be drained of water. A small electric or petrol pump does the trick when it works, otherwise it's time for the bucket brigade! It usually takes about 20 minutes to get the water out of the hole, on a good day we have two electric pumps going at once.

There's a lot of water that takes up the volume of the hole. At the start of the dig season for 1999, we were pumping it across the rocks and into the sea. By the end of the season we were using the hose from the pump to help speed up the next task - washing the sand off the rock face.

Some of the tasks can only be done by two or four people at a time, so there's the occasional break while we're standing around waiting to get to the next step. But with scenery like this, it's a welcome chance to contemplate the beauty of the Bunurong Marine Park.

Uncovering the hole | Removing the cover | Sweeping out the hole