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like those I had encountered at Knowledge Creek a few years before. At the end
of the trail, we were greeted by an upside-down sign bearing the usual admonitions
about all of the potential forms of mayhem that awaited us if we proceeded. These
signsseemtobeeverywhereinAustraliaandaremeantnotjustfortourists,butalso
for anyone who might perform acts of foolishness while celebrating nature.
OncewewereonthemorelevelgroundofMilanesiaBeach,twochoicesfaced
us in our fossil explorations: either go to the outcrop on our immediate right—with
only beach sand in front of it—or to a more modest outcrop on our left, with our
pathcomplicated bynumerousblocksofrockthathadfallenfromclifffacesabove.
We looked briefly at the closest part of the outcrop to the right, but these rocks
seemed too coarse-grained to have many discernible trace fossils. Fine-grained
sandstonesorsiltstonesaremuchbetterforpreservingidentifiable invertebrate bur-
rows, vertebrate tracks, and other trace fossils, as opposed to conglomerates. So we
chose to go left, a decision also encouraged by high waves already lapping against
the outcrop on our right.
While walking parallel to the shoreline, we soon went from a sandy beach to
a rocky shore. Some of the blocks of rock we passed were much smaller and more
rounded than others, providing indirect clues of their relative time on the beach, in
which the surf shaped the smaller and more rounded rocks far longer than bigger
ones. In contrast, the larger blocks retained angular corners from their more recent
breakage offnearby clifffaces. Normally in a talus field like this, Iwould just stroll
alongandnotspendmuchenergylookingateachstoneforitspaleontologicalvalue.
Nonetheless, I did glance at them, albeit more out of a sense of self-preservation. I
wanted to make sure I stepped in all the right places and didn't slip on any slimy
algal films and thereby become too physically intimate with these rocks.
While ambling, we stopped occasionally to scan the rocks in the vertical out-
crops, as well as larger angular blocks scattered across the upper part of the shore.
The several-meter-high vertical exposures of layered shales, sandstones, and con-
glomerates were at the top of the beach, marking where the sea had eroded these
