This week, the 82-year-old Oamaru man was in his element at the Vanished World Centre's open day at Duntroon, held to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
He already has fossilised shells on display at the centre and yesterday brought along three examples he recovered from next to Awamoa Creek earlier this year, which he hoped to getthe head of Otago University's geology department, Prof Ewan Fordyce to help identify.
Mr Lee suspected two examples of fossilised bones were from a moa. He also had a shell 18 million to 20 million years old.
However, because of the snow, Prof Fordyce, who was instrumental in helping set up the centre and fossil-geology trail in North Otago, was unable to make it from Dunedin.
Mr Lee started gathering fossils from the Oamaru foreshore in 1999. He visits the area regularly to see what erosion has uncovered on rock and siltstone beds.
Earlier this year he spotted what looked like vertebrae sticking out of a piece of mudstone. He partly uncovered his find, then hid it with branches while he went home to get a spade to dig it out completely.
Mr Lee also found what appeared to be a hip ball-joint bone.
A large fossilised oyster shell was also recovered from the same area.
He estimates he has more than 50 items he has found in the area and donated a display box of fossilised shells to the Vanished World Centre.
The centre and its trail from Waianakarua to Oamaru then through the Waiareka and Waitaki Valleys to Duntroon was set up in 2001. In its first year it attracted 1500 visitors.
Now it has more than 9000 a year.
Vanished World Inc and its sister organisation, Friends of Vanished World, now have more than 100 members, with 12 volunteers regularly staffing the information centre.
