Sunday 4th February 2024

Dave Morrison, Mike Kushy and Sam Hill to start with. SH down in the pit, MK on the step and DM on surface winching. Lots and lots of clatch cleared, MK pulling up smaller buckets on rope from SH below, and transferring directly to bigger buckets to get winched up by DM. Constant work until 1pm, then SH had some large rocks to dismantle at the dig face. DM left about 1.30pm and MK went to the dig face with SH pouring small buckets into the rift at the end of the bedding bit. Around 2ish Alex Randall and Issac Whitcombe joined us. MK in the pit, SH at the step, IW at the bottom of the ladder and AR on winch (15 minutes later John Cooper and then Rich Witcombe joined the surface team). We cleared all the pit of any loose clatch. Holes all over the place. Lots of big rocks sent up to surface too. A very large boulder in the middle of the passage seems to be blocking a decent bit of space. SH decided to squeeze around the boulder to look at what's beyond. He said there's more boulders...but all looking a lot bigger. We need to keep heading down. IW came to look at the bottom. 5 1/2 hours for me. Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

SH squeezing around the offending boulder. Photo MK.

The offending boulder, view looking 45 degree down, from the floor of the pit . Photo MK.

Proposed drill holes, expecting some movement from above, but unable to stabilise so happy for stuff to fall. Photo MK.

Sunday 28th January 2024

Dave Morrison, John Cooper, Jake Baynes, Geoff Newton and Mike Kushy. DM and JC on surface hauling buckets, JB at the bottom of the fixed ladder transferring small buckets into the larger ones, GN on the step pulling up smaller buckets from MK in the pit. Lots of clatch cleared for ages. GN and JB came down for a look at the bottom at some point, then GN filled small buckets at the dig face. JB left around 1ish, DM left around 1.30. Then we decided to put some cement in. One decent mix made and support put in around the pit walls. GN left around 2ish then JC came down with MK to finish off the cementing work. Would have liked to cement more but hard work with just 2. Lots of clatch left at the bottom to clear and some large rocks should come out the floor fairly safely. Cemented around the blasted boulder that's left, but we could take the face of this now to allow more working room at the bottom. A good view on down and a view up cave following a fossilised wall. It's possible to dig with 3 people. 4 1/2 hours. Mike.

The very bottom. Photo MK.

Looking down into the pit . Photo MK.

Looking 'up cave' from the very bottom. Photo MK.