A drill apparatus including an inner tube, an outer tube slidably received within the outer tube, and a pole extension mechanism. The pole extension mechanism comprises a pole advance gear having pole advance gear teeth, and a drive gear having drive gear teeth, the drive gear being coaxial with and fixedly attached to the pole advance gear so that the two gears rotate together. The pole advance gear teeth are received in aligned spaced apart apertures in the outer tube. The pole extension mechanism further includes a lever arm having an end pivotally mounted on the support collar at a lever arm pivot point coaxial with the drive gear and the pole advance gear. The pole extension mechanism further includes a stop pawl pivotally mounted on the support collar for rotation between where the stop pawl engages the drive gear and prevents downward movement of the pole inner tube relative to the pole outer tube, and where the stop pawl does not engage the drive gear, and a drive pawl piece pivotally mounted on the lever arm near the lever arm end.