My collecting career started when I was 8 years old in a dry creek bed at the back of a holiday cabin in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. I cracked open a rock and saw a plant fossil. I was very curious and when the owner of the park saw my interest he took me to a couple of areas that had quartz crystals and hematite crystal. That was the start and I became an avid collector through my teens and it was a natural progression to study geology at University leading to, so far. a lifelong career as an exploration geologist. My work has enable me to travel on three continents and when the opportunity arises I spend my spare time collecting specimens at the projects where I have worked. I have co-authored a paper written on a new mineral discovered in South Australia, decrespignyite, and am currently working on a few more papers.