With ANZAC day falling on a Thursday this year I took the opportunity to take the Friday as annual leave and have a four day weekend with the family at Moama. Most of the family wasn’t able to get there until Friday evening, so I got a leave pass from the xyl to get out and spend Friday morning playing radio.
Murray Valley National Park – VKFF-1178
First target of the day was the Murray Valley National Park. I had planned to get into the park via Coolamon Rd, but the gate at that entry was closed for some reason. Drove further up the Cobb Highway and found the next entry open. The sign says it’s Exchange rd, which isn’t laballed on Google maps.
From there followed the signs the Swifts Creek camp ground. The camp ground has a small number of camp spots which seemed most suited to caravans and which were all full. (According to the sign, bookings are needed.) That’s adjacent to a boat ramp and picnic area. I made use of table next to the river and set up the EFHW with a large gum tree to hold up the far end.
Got on air around 9:20am, giving me forty minutes before the UTC rollover into the new day. HF conditions prooved to be good and lots of people seemed to be out and about. I’d managed thirty five contacts on 40m in around twenty minutes, by which time I’d run out of customers. Went up to 20m and got another 14 in the space of ten minutes. Overall forty five contacts in thirty minutes!
Murray Valley Regional Park – VKFF-1785
Second target was the Murray Valley Regional Park. This park has lots of disconnected allotments. Access was via Picnic Point Road and then Boyeo Rd. Boyeo Rd has gates at both end that would be closed if the area is wet. Judging by some of the ruts in the road, it can get quite boggy when it’s wet.
This time I found an open area where I could pull the car off the main track and setup. HF conditions continued to be good. Managed thirty contacts on 40m in about thirty minutes before running out of customers. Moved to 20m and managed another fourteen contacts in the space of fifteen minutes.
Overall forty five contacts in under forty minutes. I was very happy with the result in both parks. I wasn’t expecting to get to forty four in either.
Weather was perfect too. Blue sky and just a breath of wind. To top it off, I spotted a couple of emu’s on the way out of the park.
Woady Yallock River, Pitfield Streamside Reserve, VKFF-3922
A couple of quick activations on a very pleasant Autumn afternoon. Both close to home. First up was Woady Yallock River, Pitfield Streamside Reserve, VKFF-3922. This is a rest stop off the side of the Skipton to Rokewood Rd. The area seems to be quite well maintained with tables and shelter. It’s down in a valley, which means there’s no phone coverage for spotting. There is some traffic noise from trucks going over the bridge. But the road isn’t that busy so it didn’t bother me. A couple of cars and vans pulled in while I was there. None of them paid any attention to what I was doing.
Band conditions have continued to be good and quite a few people were out and about which helped me get 47 contacts in 47 minutes. Much better than I’d expected when heading out.
Warrambine Flora Reserve, VKFF-2479
Second site was Warrambine Flora Reserve, VKFF-2479. Site of the old Warrambine Shire Hall. The building is all boarded up these days. It is on the Victorian Historic Database. Maybe it’ll get restored one day.
Managed 45 contacts in just under an hour, including ten on 20m and one 10m.
By the end of the hour the battery had pretty much had it. Might be time for an upgrade.
Second push bike outing for the Easter weekend. This time following the Castlemaine to Maldon rail trail. This isn’t a typical rail trail as the train line is still active. Rather it follows along beside the track used by the Victorian Goldfields Railway line which runs a train a couple of days a week. Castlemain is 100m lower than Maldon. I’d prefer to have the first half of the ride be harder than the return journey, so I started at Castlemaine. The bike track has more climbs than the actual rail line and is fairly rough in a few spots. I was a little bit concerned about the poor radio being bounced around in the pannier bag. It was well packed. But being on the rear pack rack, it was still being bounced a lot.
The track runs past Muckleford I136 Bushland Reserve, VKFF-4282, about 5km out of Castlemaine. Rode up to Maldon and enjoyed a couple of sandwiches and a drink before riding back and stopping in the reserve.
The area is open enough that I could easily ride the bike into the bush and set up 50m off the main track.
Managed 21 contacts on 40m over the space of about 25 minutes. Tried going to 20m but the band was wall to wall with contest stations. So I didn’t bother and instead packed up and finished the cycle back to Castlemaine station.
TRACK STATISTICS
distance travelled: 39.31 km
time: 4:39:39
elev. min/max: 269 m/361 m
elev. gain/loss: 641 m/-640 m
There’s quite a few parks in the Castlemain area. I’ll have to come back for a weekend visit I think.
I’ve been looking at how I can add some physical activity to portable radio use. There’s a pretty limited range of SOTA summits nearby, but there are a couple parks that are next to cycling trails. Smysdale Streamside Reserve seemed like a good target. Just outside the nearby township of Smythesdale which the Ballarat to Skipton rail trail passes through. Packed the radio gear, sun protection and water into a pannier bag and headed out to Nimmons Bridge with a plan to cycle the 10km back to Smythesdale.
The weather was ideal with clear blue skies and just a breath of wind. Didn’t take long before I arrived at the park. Set up in a clearing beside the creek making use of the EFHW.
Managed 15 contacts on 40m. Tried 20m and wasn’t expecting much given the 5 watts out on the FT-817. Was pleased to get 6 contacts, including a 5×7 both ways from VK4HNS.
Finished up with a couple of park to park contacts on 40m. First with Gerrard, VK2IO in Mount Buffalo National Park, VKFF-0339. And then Stewart, VK7FADZ in Mount Barrow State Reserve, VKFF-1818.
All up managed 23 contacts in the space of about 40 minutes.
Packed and cycled back to the car. Worked well. Though I’d packed everything in a single pannier bag which meant the weight on the bike was a bit lopsided. Next time I’ll use two bags and spread the load. Â
Back in 2022 I socialized the idea of a trip down to King Island with my XYL, who was pretty clear that wasn’t happening. Somewhere along the way I suggested to Peter, VK3WPG that the island would be an interesting parks target that we might try in the new year (Which would have been referring to 2023). Time went by and nothing more was done until we travelled together to the 2023 VKFF Parks Get Together at Renmark in October 2023 where PWG raised the idea again and a plan was hatched.
First challenge was accommodation. The Island has some great looking 5 star places, with prices to match the star rating. PWG and I were more after 2 or 3 stars, also with prices to match. At the suggestion of the local tourist centre, PWG put a post on the King Island Community Notice Board which resulted in a very reasonably priced house in Naracoopa on the East coast. The only issue was that we needed to move the dates by a week, which later proved to be quite fortunate.
Next was car hire. None of the big companies operate here. We got an older Subaru Forester from Island Car Hire. The hire conditions stated we couldn’t take it on the beach or bush bashing, everything else was okay. That suited us just fine.
Waiting for departure
Last detail was the flight. The main carrier seems to be Sharp Airlines. Rex flies here but they don’t seem to have advertised schedules. There’s also a smaller company that flies out of Moorabbin called King Island Air, which is who we went with. They had the benefit of free parking and a schedule that worked slightly better for us. King Island air operates a couple of eight seaters. On both the trip down and back there was only three passengers and the pilot. We travelled down on milk and frozen goods day. Once we’d boarded every square inch of the remaining space on the plane was filled with perishable freight.
Radio related kit prep
The airline had a 15Kg weight limit on the bags which we worked hard to stay within. Our weigh in at home suggested both being a little over. Not sure what the airline scales said, either way nothing was said to us. Excess baggage was only $3 per Kg. So it really wasn’t an issue. We could have taken a 20Kg flight case there and back for $120.
I took a 7m squid pole which I packed in a couple of mailing tubes joined together for protection. In hindsight that would have been fine on it’s own. This was an invaluable piece of equipment. We used it on all bar one activation.
We spoke to the airline about batteries. Ours were less than 100Wh which is fine for domestic travel. We did need to hand carry them. (Also fine.)
As we had an early start we elected to stay overnight in Moorabbin. This is where the date change helped a lot. The weekend prior was the Taylor Swift concert and Melbourne was fully booked. Even hotels in Moorabbin were starting at $400 plus for a single room. About three times what we managed.
Coming into King Island
For radio gear, we did all activations with PWG’s IC-705. I had an FT-817 as backup, happily not needed. We had a small 35W amp which we used a few times where conditions were ordinary. Most activations were done with an EFHW. We did a couple with a linked dipole.
When we originally started planning the trip there was five VKFF parks on the island and one SOTA summit. As luck would have it, Paul, VK5PAS was working on adding a batch of VK7 parks. He was aware of our plan and reached out asking if there were any other sites we’d like him to add. PWG and I received the email and after a bit of rapid research replied independently. PWG thought having an additional one or two might be good. At almost the same time I wrote back to Paul asking if another ten could be added, which was basically all the publicly owned parks that seemed as though they would be accessible by car.
I’m sure Peter was wondering what I was thinking. As it turned out the fifteen parks fitted perfectly to the five days we had on the island.
There’s warnings of limited phone coverage on the island. We printed out a few copies of this map on A3 paper and found it to be a very usefull resource. Phone coverage wasn’t as poor as I was expecting.
Day 1 – Monday 26th February
7:30 flight out of Moorabbin saw us on the ground and into the hire car around 9am. First stop was Currie for supplies. We’d been warned that everything on the Island was expensive, including the supermarket. From there we navigated to Naracoopa to find the house and extract the radio gear. First radio target was the Southern tip of the Island, VKFF-4418, Stokes Point Conservation Area.
This was also our first experience of the islands gravel roads and abundant wildlife with a wallaby, or wobbly as they became known, bouncing out onto the road around every corner. Both contributing to us traveling at much lower speeds than we would typically travel.
Sealers Wall
After slowly making our way down to the Stokes Point lighthouse where it was rather cold and windy on the exposed coast, we came back past Sealers Wall which was built by early settlers as a barricade to help when trapping seals to harvest their skin and oil.
Setup the linked dipole and made our first calls from the island. First to come back was VK3PF with 5×5 both ways. Managed 31 contacts over the space of 45 minutes. All on 40m. We considered trying to push on for 44 to qualify for WWFF but we had a fair drive to get back to the house and it’d already been a long day. 31 seemed a good result anyway.
Operating position at Stokes Point
Next was VKFF-1148, Seal Rocks State Reserve, this was just up the road on the West coast. Setup the EFHW in a picnic shelter and got 21 contacts over the space of 40 minutes. From here we checked out the Calcified Forest and the Seal Rock Boardwalk before making the drive back to Naracoopa.
Seal Rocks Boardwalk
That evening we drove into Currie and had dinner at the Currie Hotel before coming back and setting up in the Northernmost tip of VKFF-4410, City of Melbourne Bay Conservation Area. We had a go with PWG’s vertical. Managed six contacts on 40m and none on 20m before heading back to the house for a well earned rest.
City of Melbourne Bay at Naracoopa
Day 2 – Tuesday 27th February
Today we headed North, with the first target being VKFF-1134, Cape Wickham State Reserve, site of the tallest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. Setup again in a picnic shelter using the linked dipole and and the amp to boost the power a little. Conditions early in the day were better suited to DX contacts with many of of our usual VK3 contacts giving pretty ordinary reports. We did get three VK4’s in the log with good reports both ways. After 10 contacts in 30 minutes we decided to move on as we had a lot of ground to cover for the day.
Next was VKFF-1796, Disappointment Bay State Reserve. Driving into this site we passed a couple walking out. It turned out that they had paddled sea kyacks from Melbourne, around Flinders Island, down to Tassie, and were now padding back to Melbourne. They’d setup camp on the beach and wanted to hitch hike into Currie. We didn’t see them again but did wonder how they’d gone. They might have gotten a ride into town. We didn’t like their chances of getting a ride back. At 45 Km, it’d be a bit of a walk.
Operating position at Cape WickhamSea Kayaks at Disapointment BayDisapointment Bay Operating PositionDisapointment Bay
After a short walk on the beach we set up the EFHW from a picnic table that overlooked the surf. Here we managed 48 contacts in just over an hour. All on 40m. The rate was assisted by rollover half way through. Probably the most successful park for the trip.
From there we made our way to VKFF-1142, Lavinia State Reserve. While this park is only just along the coast, easy access required us to drive inland before crossing the island and past Penny’s Lagoon to get to Lavinia Beach. Again there was a convenient picnic table overlooking the surf so the EFHW was put back into service. Managed 22 contacts over about 40 minutes before packing up and heading back to Currie.
Lavinia Beach
Third target for the day was the North end of VKFF-4409, Cataraqui Point Conservation Area. We accessed this via Neatherby Point, just off British Admiralty Beach. At the North end of the beach there’s a parking area overlooking the surf. Parked the car to act as a windbreak and ran the EFHW out over the rocks. Managed 25 contacts over 40 minutes.
Cataraqui PointCataraqui Point
Final target for the day was the Southern end of VKFF-4415, Porky Beach Conservation Area, just North of Currie. We accessed this via Loorana, which is the site of the famous King Island Dairy. There is a shop and I think they might do tours, but we just observed from the car.
Here the car made a good wind break from where we could have a sheltered spot and watch the surf roll in while calling CQ. This seemed to be a popular spot to go after work. About a dozen cars drove past us and onto the beach while we were here. None stopped to enquire what we were doing. After 20 contacts over 30 minutes we decided it was time to head back to the pub for dinner, and then onto Naracoopa for some rest.
Day 3 – Wednesday 28th February
Gentle Annie Operating Position
Back down South, this time on the East coast. First target was VKFF-4414, Gentle Annie Conservation Area. This is also the site of the island SOTA summit, VK7/NW-048, Gentle Annie, (162m, 1 point), which I would have liked to have done. However there’s no track to the summit and the bush was quite thick. I’m sure it would be possible to get through to the summit but it would be slow and even then wouldn’t have any sort of view. (The summit was activated by VK3XDM back in 2015. So it is possible.) Given we had more park targets, we elected to skip the summit.
Pulled the car off the track we’d accessed the park from, on the very unlikely possibility that another vehicle wanted to access the track that led up to a locked gate. Sure enough, 10 minutes later some 4WD’s and a large truck rumbled past on their way to the nearby comms tower. (Which is offset from the summit.)
Setup the EFHW in a small clearing in the scrub and managed 11 contacts in 40 minutes. Slow going.
Second target was VKFF-4411, Colliers Swamp Conservation Area, which is next door to Stokes Point. Checked out Grassy on the way. Looked into the large tungsten mine, drove down to the harbour and spotted a seal resting on the beach next to the Little Penguin colony. The penguin’s had already headed out to sea looking for food for the day so we didn’t see any.
Tungstan mine with Grassy in the backgroundColliers Swamp Conservation Area
There was a track into Colliers Swamp off South Rd. Set up the EFHW here only to turn the radio on and hear S7 of noise, which would make working this most unpleasant. Pulled the gear down and made our way down to Seal River Road. Once inside the boundary of Colliers Swamp we setup the linked dipole and started calling. There was a threat of rain. Happily we only had a few light drops while there. Managed 26 contacts over about an hour. All 40m.
Next was VKFF-4417, Seal Rocks Conservation Area. Access here was tricky. There aren’t any tracks that run into the park, at least none we could access. (Attrills Road may be worthwhile trying.) However the park’s Eastern boundary is on South Road.
Seal Rocks Conservation Area
After driving up and down South Road a few times, we decided on a spot near the Southern boundry where we could pull the car off the road and then bush bashed our way into the park for about 10m. There wasn’t room for the squid pole, so the EFHW was draped over the vegetation about as high as I could reach. This still seemed to work okay. We managed 19 contacts over about 40 minutes.
Our last target for the day was VKFF-4410, City of Melbourne Bay Conservation Area. We wanted to get into this at Yarra Creek, via Skipworth Rd, which was about half way along the length of the park. This site is next to a large farm house and owners have put some effort into maintaining the beach access area. There’s a well manicured grassed area with a picnic table overlooking the creek and surf. Probably one of the best spots we had to set up for the trip.
City of Melbourne Bay at Yarra Creek
As we set up there was distant thunder clap and black clouds coming over. We managed six contacts before it started raining. Worse, some sort of noise came up and completely wiped out the band.
Rapidly packed up, leaving the chasers wondering what happened to us, and headed back to Naracoopa.
Naracoopa
Lack of planning here meant we had to drive to Currie for dinner. Doh.
Naracoopa Jetty from City of Melbourne Bay operating position
Once back we headed down to the Northern end of VKFF-4410, City of Melbourne Bay Conservation Area, which is at Naracoopa where we managed 24 more contacts before packing up.
Day 4 – Thursday 29th February
Headed North again, this time on the East coast. First stop was VKFF-4413, Eldorado Conservation Area. Lots of very thick bush out this side of the Island. Eldorado is 1 Km off the coast. We found a small access track that seemed to most be used by the local beekeepers. Set the EFHW and managed 21 contacts in 30 minutes with generally good reports. The pace was pleasing as the conditions early in the day previously had made the rate pretty slow.
After a short diversion down Blowhole Rd, where we found the blowhole but the sea was flat so nothing to see today.
Top Pic: Sea Elephant River, home to hundreds of swans. Lower left: Operating position in Sea Elephant Conservation Area. Lower right: Blow Hole.
Next was VKFF-4416, Sea Elephant Conservation Area. Set up the EFHW to the amusement of a couple of wallabies that hung around the whole time we were there. We had thought we should be able to leverage roll over to get to 44 here. As it turned out we managed 33 contacts over 80 minutes, including 5 on 20m. Decided that getting another 11 contacts was going to take too long and packed up.
We had planned to go into the South end of VKFF-1142, Lavinia State Reserve which was right next to Sea Elephant. We’d been to the Northern end on Monday and got 22 contacts. Given the rate of contacts we decided to skip that and head for VKFF-4412, Counsel Hill Conservation Area, which was quite a long drive from where we were.
Counsel Hill
Counsel Hill is the site of a large comms tower with microwave dishes pointed back at Victoria. The peak of the hill didn’t have any good spots to set up and was quite windy. Just below that was an access track with bush either side acting as a windbreak. Set up the EFHW and managed 17 contacts in 50 minutes.
From here we headed to Currie to get supplies for the evening rather than eating at the pub. We also wanted to get on the BARG 80m club net later that evening.
PWG working the BARG 80m net
Back at Naracoopa we popped back to VKFF-4410, City of Melbourne Bay Conservation Area, where we need 8 more to get to 44 and qualify the park for the WWFF award. Managed that easily, ending up with 26 contacts over the space of 45 minutes while watching the sun set and surf roll in.
After some dinner we rigged up an 80m EFHW by adding some length to the 40 wire we’d been using. Joined the 80m ‘Clipboard’ net, hosted by VK3DLO and the BARG club net. Got good reports from all using 10w into the end fed.
Day 5 – Friday 1st March
Final day which also meant everything needed to be packed ready for the flight home. We’d already activated everything we could get into so the plan was to revisit Cataraqui Point and Porkys Beach which needed 19 and 24 respectively to get to 44. As conditions had been poor for the first park each day we planned to go to Porkys and get as many as we could in 30 or 40 minutes, then head down to Cataraqui Point and leverage rollover, then back to Parkys to finish the park off.
Porky Beach
As it worked out, we didn’t need to do all that. At Porky’s Beach we had the place all to ourselves and got 32 contacts in 50 minutes. Then a quick drive down to Cataraqui Point where we got 22 contacts over 35 minutes.
Cataraqui Point
There was one park that we didn’t go to. VKFF-3366, King Island Conservation Covenant is a private reserve just outside Naracoopa. The sign on the gate calls it “Parenna Place Studio”. It’s mentioned on one of the tourist sites and also has a Facebook page. I tried calling the listed phone number, but it was disconnected. The website that the email is associated with no longer exists and the Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2019. So sadly we had to skip it. Had we been here longer, I might have tried driving in and knocking on the door.
All that was left was to fuel up the car, make the flight home and then battle the Friday peak hour traffic across Melbourne to get back to Ballarat.
All up we drove around 600km over the five days on the island. (We drove about 300 Km to get from Ballarat to the airport and back.) The island was suffering a drought which meant the grass was all brown but also the tracks were all very solid.
We had great weather with a max of 32C and a minimum over the whole trip of 16C. There was a few drops of rain but not enough to worry us.
Currie harbour.
Our most frequent hunter was VK3PF, with whom we managed 19 QSO’s. Plus another 4 to VK3PF/M. Next was VK3EXA and VK3MCK with 14 QSO’s each. VK3APJ managed 13 QSO’s and VK3VIN with 12. There was 420 contacts in total over the 5 days
A big thankyou to Paul, VK5PAS for helping us add ten extra parks. It really allowed us to maximise the time on the radio and also resulted in taking us all over the island.
Also a big thankyou to our XYL’s for letting us head out for a week.
Left pic is Porky Beach as we flew out of Currie. Right is Cape Schank as we come back to Melbourne.
I hope this log is helpful for anyone who’s thinking of heading down there. We really enjoyed the trip. I’d recommend it to anyone else.
The first weekend in January has seen Buninyong host the Australian Road National Championships for the past twenty plus years. The race means the main access route up the mount is closed to traffic which in turn results in it being very quiet at the top of the mount. This is actually the third time I’ve activated the Mt Buninyong summit. The first time was back in 2016, then January 2020 and January 2023. Mt Buninyong reserve was added to the VKFF program as VKFF-3781 in July of 2023. (Contacts only count from the date the park is added to the program.)
Packed the radio kit into a backpack and walked from home up the mount, cheering on the cyclists as they rode past. Once at the peak, set up the radio in the rotunda using a squid pole to support my linked dipole. First contact was with VK3HSX/VK3 who was in VKFF-0405 with a signal report of 43. Not bad considering the radio was set at 1/2 a watt power out.
Went on to get 39 contacts over the space of 70 minutes, including two on 20m.
Three P2P contacts. VK5HSX, VK3PF in VKFF-0959 & VK3VE-189 before and after rollover of the UTC day. Also VK3ZPF on summit VK3/VC-028.
Lal Lal Falls VKFF-3746
Lal Lal Falls was the target for that afternoon. This park was added to the program in April of 2023 and only been activated once before. Set up in a corner of the car park at the start of the Moorabool Falls car park using the corner post to tie the squid pole as a support for the linked dipole. Managed 47 contacts including 13 on 20m and one on 10m with VK4FOX.
10m was hard work. I suspect that the FT-897 is a bit deaf on 10m. I never have much luck with that band.
Two Park to Park contacts. VK2EG in VKFF-1319 and VK3ZPF in VKFF-0753, also VK3/VC-037.
A number of cars came and went from the car park while I was there. Only one asked what i was doing and even they really took no interest. Sadly I forgot to take any photo’s while there.
Caught up with Peter, VK3PWG and headed back to Flax Mill Swamp where I still needed a few to qualify with 44 contacts. Made us of Peter’s IC-705 coupled with a QRP EFHW Peter had made up. Added an external battery to allow the radio to put out 10 watts. This was the third visit to this site, the first being in 2020 and the second more recently, in November just gone. Accessed the park again via the track between the rail line and the Mars factory then walked along the Mars factory back fence to the pin trees.
Managed 19 contacts over the space of 45 minutes with five on 20m. Two Park to Park contacts. One with VK3PF in VKFF-3826 and another with VK3ZSC in VKFF-2195. Also a summit contact with VK7ID in VK7/SC-068.
Black Lake VKFF-2269
From there we headed out to Black Lake wild life reserve. Access was via Stockyard Hill Rd. There’s a track that runs around the northern end of the lake. It does have a gate, though while we were there the adjacent farmer came by and assured us that it’s a public access area. It’s fine to drive in. The gate should be left as found. And watch the long grass on hot exhausts if it’s hot and dry.
Setup the EFHW using a post to hold up the squid pole at the mid point. Again utilised Pete’s IC-705 on 10w. Managed 21 contacts with only one on 20m. Three P2P contacts. VK5LA in VKFF-4122, VK3PF in VKFF-3825 and later VKFF-2135.
Late Spring Saturday with perfect weather meant I had to head out for a bit. Made my way over the nearby Creswick Regional Park, VKFF-0964. I’ve been here once before back in 2020. That time I only managed 17 contacts leaving 27 needed to get the 44 required for WWFF qualification. This park can be quite busy even though it’s rather large, so aimed for a spot well to the south, and away from the major roads that surround the park. Parked off the side of Petticoat Road and made use of the EFHW. The only traffic to go past in the time I was there were a couple of cyclists who were focused on getting up the hill.
Managed 49 contacts over the space of an hour this time, including a dozen on 20m. Also had three P2P contacts. Two with Chris, VK1CHW in Old Naas Travelling Stock Reserve and one with Peter, VK3TKK in VKFF-4296, Castlemaine H85 B.R. Natural Features Reserve.
VKFF-2314 Flax Mill Swamp
I’d wondered for some time if I’d be able to load enough gear onto the pushbike to be able to cycle to an activation site. (I was not thinking about using the radio on the bike!) The weather was good so loaded up the bike including strapping the squid pole to the cross bar and cycled out to Flax Mill Swamp, next the Mars factory in Ballarat. I’ve been to this park once before, back in October of 2020. On that occasion I parked in Gregory Street and walked in through the swap to a clump of trees that were on a small rise. This time I went around to the Mars / rail line boundary and found an access track that would be able to be driven easily in dry weather, and then along the back of the Mars factory where there are some old pine trees that provided some shade and a support for the EFHW.
Managed 29 contacts over the space of 45 minutes including two on 20m. By then the contacts seemed to have dried up, so packed up and cycled back home.
The VKFF team organised a ‘get together‘ for WWFF participants across VK land in Renmark, SA. Organisation was lead by national coordinator VK5PAS and VK5MAZ, assisted by a number of others. Twenty seven participants made there way there, with most activating parks on the way there and back.
Peter, VK3PWG, mentioned that he’d heard of the event and thought it would be good to go. I shared that I was already booked in and he was welcome to join me. So that was the plan. We managed to activate five parks on the way there and another five on the way home. 350 QSO’s, of which 87 were P2P contacts.
VKFF-0977 St Arnaud Regional Park 17
VKFF-2462 Towma Flora and Fauna Reserve 28
VKFF-0967 Green Lake Regional Park 33
VKFF-0231 Hattah-Kulkyne National Park 32
VKFF-0373 Murray-Sunset National Park 28
VKFF-1723 Loch Luna Game Reserve 44
VKFF-1729 Moorook Game Reserve 22
VKFF-0372 Murray River National Park 48
VKFF-1697 Chowilla Game Reserve 47
VKFF-2466 Turriff Flora and Fauna Reserve 47
It was a great trip. Really good to meet some of the people who I’ve spoke to often and hear their stories. The next get together is planned for Bendigo in central Victoria. I’m sure that’ll be a popular event.
Click to Open in Google Maps
Thursday 26th October
Plan was to drive around half way to Renmark, activating some parks on the way. 1st target was VKFF-0977 St Arnaud Regional Park. Parked at the boundary of the park near town and set everything up only to find a really high noise level on both 40 and 20m which made for unpleasant working conditions. Decided to stop at 17 and get a few more K’s under the belt. While packing up one of the two chairs I’d brought collapsed. Also forgot to take any photos here. Not the best of starts. Ooops.
Next was VKFF-2462 Towma Flora and Fauna Reserve. A non-descript little reserve on the Birchip to Sealake road. Setup off a turn out on the North West corner and managed 28 contacts before moving on. Again no photos.
Third for the day was VKFF-0967, Green Lake Regional Park. This looked to be a popular camping area and there was quite a few vans parked around the lake. I’d expect it’d be a super busy spot over Christmas. Set up on the West side of the lake by the water. Managed 33 contacts before deciding it was time to make our way to our overnight accommodation.
Green LakeGreen LakeGreen Lake Operating Position
Friday 27th October
Friday had a few hours of driving and we needed to be in Renmark for the opening dinner, leaving only enough time for two parks. First target was VKFF-0231, Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. I’d visited this part back in 2020 on the VKFF activation weekend. (I’ve never completed the blog for that weekend. I musy fix that.) I needed 24 contacts to qualify the park. Access was via main entry off the Calder Highway. Being midweek there weren’t many people around, allowing us to get set up in a picnic shelter overlooking the lake. Easily managed 32 contacts including with Peter, VK3ZPF who was working from the other end of the park, meaning it wasn’t a P2P for either of us.
Second park was VKFF-0373 Murray-Sunset National Park. This was another park I’d activated in 2020. This time I needed 28. Access was via the Walla Walla Track off the Sturt Highway where there was an information sign board and small clump of trees that provided a small amount of shade. Peter, VK3ZPF must have been following us as he’d also moved to another site in the same park.
Saturday was filled with presentations and a dinner, so no time for activations. Sunday kicked off with a BBQ hosted by the Riverland Radio Club. After and egg and bacon roll and some farewells we headed off to VKFF-1723 Loch Luna Game Reserve. Access was off Morgan Road. Followed an access track round to camp site number 1 and setup on the waters edge. Sue, VK3AYL came up from the same park. To our surprise, also in campsite 1. After some confusion, realised her campsite 1 was in camping area at the other end of the park. Managed 44 contacts in just over two hours.
Second site was VKFF-1729 Moorook Game Reserve, which is on the other side of the Sturt Highway. Again setup by the side of the Murray River. Managed 22 contacts in around an hour before the contacts dried up. So packed up and headed back to Renmark where we had dinner on the deck at the Renmark club, overlooking the Murray river.
Moorook Game ReserveLoch Luna Game ReserveVKFF Get Together BBQ
Monday 30th October
Monday started at the VKFF-0372 Murray River National Park, across the road from the van park we’d stayed in for the last few nights. Pulled up up only to find Gerrard, VK2IO, already setup where we’d planned to go. Happily Gerrard was about to pack up and head on but was happy to firstly show us how he’d set the vehicle up with a focus on getting setup and being able to pull down quickly.
Managed 48 contacts before heading up to VKFF-1697 Chowilla Game Reserve. There was still visable evidence of the damage from the floods 12 months earlier at this park, with the camping and walking tracks still closed. Managed 47 contacts before heading to Mildura for the night.
Murray River NPGerrard at Murray River NPChowilla GR
Tuesday 31st October
Last day of the trip with five hours of driving required to get back home. That allowed enough time for one activation. VKFF-2466 Turriff Flora and Fauna Reserve was the chosen target. Access was via Roberts Rd, off the Sunraysia Highway. Managed 47 contacts before hitting the road for the final stretch home.
I had a week of leave with no real plans. The XYL had some commitments around home and wasn’t able to get away. Perfect opportunity to get out and spend some time in the parks with the radio. It’s still rather cold in Victoria this time of year so tried to head a bit North. Checking the BOM site in the weeks leading up my leave showed South Western NSW to be 5 to 7C warmer than my QTH in Ballarat. To plan the trip time was spent looking at the park boundaries in Google Earth using the KMZ files downloaded from the excellent ParksNPeaks website.
Targets chosen, cabins in Balranald, Hillston and Griffith were booked. (I don’t own a van and cabins are usually cheaper than motel rooms and come with a kitchenette and reasonable work area for log writing and battery charging.)
Over the course of the week managed to activate fourteen parks with seven getting more than forty four contacts all adding up to 562 QSO’s.
Saturday 19th VKFF-3566 Nyah-Vinfera Park (56)
Sunday 20th VKFF-1773 Yanga State Conservation Area (49)
Sunday 20th VKFF-2249 Yanga National Park (48)
Monday 21st VKFF-1174 Kemendok National Park (34)
Monday 21st VKFF-1782 Euston Regional Park (18)
Monday 21st VKFF-1785 Murray Valley Regional Park (23)
Thursday 24th VKFF-2724 South West Woodland Nature Reserve (26)
Friday 25th VKFF-0104 Cocoparra National Park (57)
Saturday 26th VKFF-0403 Oolambeyan National Park (50)
Top chaser was Gerard, VK2IO with 20 contacts. I had 18 contacts with Peter, VK3PF and John, VK4TJ. 17 with Ian, VK3VIN. And 14 each with Peter, VK3PWG and Geoff, VK3SQ.
There were also three parks that I failed to access. Two of those I would have been able to get into if it was a bit drier. Probably only a couple of nice days would have been enough.
Click to open in Google Maps
Overall the trip cost just $200 per day. Broken up as $40 per day for food / drink, $62 on fuel and $90 on accommodation. (That’s eight days. There was seven nights of accommodation, which averaged out around $103 per night.)
The car clocked up around 2200Km over the week. Of course wear and tear on the car isn’t costed there.
Saturday 19th VKFF-3566 Nyah-Vinfera Park (56)
Headed off in a foggy morning and slowly changed into light rain, breaking up as I got a bit further north. By the time I’d made it to the first target park the rain had cleared with patches of blue sky interspersed with very grey clouds.
Right click and open any of the photo’s in a new tab for a larger version.
First park for the trip was Nyah-Vinfera. Still in VK3. Accessed via Byrnes Lane. While setting up the 40m EFHW managed to catch it and snap the wire about a third of the way along the length. A quick field repair sorted the break out and I was on air. A couple of mobs of kangaroos bounced by while I was busy making contacts. Managed 56 contacts including 11 on 20m. Six of the 20 contacts were DX, which I was quite happy with.
Sunday 20th VKFF-1773 Yanga State Conservation Area (49)
Spent the next three nights at the Balranald caravan park. I’m not sure that the cabin was particularly level. It may have been affected by the floods last year. Apart from that it was all good. Park was neat and tidy and quite.
There’s a bunch of parks around Balranald but not all are readily accessible. My first target was the YangaStateConservation area. Drove into the Willows Campground via the Impimi trail. The sign states Dry Weather Road. Despite the wet weather the roads
There’s a dozen or more camping spots with only four occupied when I arrived. Set up at table in one of the spots only to find S9 of noise, which made for quite unpleasant radio conditions.
There was a couple of light spots of rain as I set up so I put up the rain shelter. In the end I didn’t need it.
Despite the noise, managed 49 contacts. All on 40m. Tried 20m but no joy.
Also setup my 10m Flower Pot using a 10m squid pole to hold it. A VK2 responded the call but I couldn’t make out the call or the report. It’s a bit of mucking about to set up. Seems to work okay though I didn’t use again for the remainder for the trip.
I later concluded the noise was likely to be from a small solar panel on the toilet block. Had I known before set up I could have tried a different spot further around. Aside from the noise the area was pleasant. Would be a good spot to camp in good weather.
Sunday 20th VKFF-2249 Yanga National Park (48)
Next target was literally next door. YangaNationalPark, where I setup at the Regatta beach picnic area. The noise floor here was much lower but still higher than I had expected for such an isolated area. Sat at a picnic table watch the birds come and go from the lake while working through the contacts. Managed 49 with two on 20m.
This was also advertised as a dry weather road only but access was fine.
To finish the day off dropped in a looked through the Yanga Station woolshed, which was once the largest and most modern woolshed in the district, with up to 40 shearers working through 3000 sheep.
Monday 21st VKFF-1174 Kemendok National Park (34)
Recognising the challenge with access to some of the parks around Balranald I decided to head a bit further west to try Kemendok National Park. The park has the Murray River as the Southern boundary, though that was a lot further in than I travelled. I accessed the park via Tapalin Mail Rd, off the Sturt Highway. Followed an access track into the park, which I don’t think was signed. Went through a gate with security cameras tracking vehicles entering and exiting. Not something I’ve seen in remote parks before. Perhaps they aren’t usually as obvious.
Click to open video in youtube
Pulled up in an open area next to Bengallow Creek. The satellite map images show the creek as a collection of small water holes. The day I was there it was full of water. At the waters edges there was lots of activity from schools of large carp.
It’s a bit hard to make out in this picture. What looks like sticks in the water are actually carp feeding.
Setup the 80m OCF with the operating position in the shade. Managed 34 contacts, with 12 before roll over. 16 of the contacts were on 20m. Given the quantity of contacts on 20m and with a dozen before roll over I was surprised to not get to 44 here.
Monday 21st VKFF-1782 Euston Regional Park (18)
Second target for Monday was the Euston RegionalPark. Easy access off Sturt Highway via the Tapalin Mail Rd. (This is the other end of the Tapalin Mail rd used to access Kemendok NP. I had to check I had the details correct when writing this up!)
Pulled into a unused side track where I could park and set up in the shade making use of the EFHW. At one point a ranger vehicle went by. They either didn’t notice me or weren’t interested in what I was doing as they didn’t even slow down. Managed 18 contacts over the space of 30 minutes before traffic dried up. Tried 20m again but had no joy.
I had planned to only do two parks per day but it was still quite early so decided to aim for one more before heading back to camp.
Monday 21st VKFF-1785 Murray Valley Regional Park (23)
Slipped back into VK3 to travel back along the Murray Valley Highway then up to Kyalite aiming for the Kyalite camp ground in the Murray ValleyRegional Park. I was a little concerned that the park would be closed as result of recent high river levels. Happily it wasn’t closed but the tracks into the campground weren’t in a state that that a sensible person would drive. At least not someone who’s not in a serious 4WD.
I was able to get through the gate and into the park. Found a flat and dry area to setup and stayed until dusk. Not sure I would have been able to do that had I arrived here at the same time the following day.
Managed twenty three contacts with the final contact being with Tuomo, OH8KXK in Finland. Tuomo was running 1.5KW with an impressive sounding door frame loop antenna. I think he was a bit put off when he heard I was a portable station using an end fed strung up in a tree. 🙂
Annoyingly I forgot to take any photo’s at this site.
Tuesday 22nd VKFF-1858 Kalyarr National Park (38)
Headed off from Balranald with a forecast for rain and possible storm through the day. Weather looked much as it had for the last couple of days with a grey looking cloud cover but otherwise fine. The sun was even coming in under the clouds as it rose in the west providing a rather spectacular sunrise. The weather wasn’t going to stay that way.
At the turn off to Oxley Rd there was sign indicating ‘Road Closed’. There was no other information so I ventured only the road anyway. About 10Km it was clear why the road was closed with water over the road as far as the eye could see. I stopped well short of the water and walked to the edge. The asphalt underfoot was quite spongy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they needed that to dry right out before opening the road again, which might be quite some time.
I’d not long gotten back into the car when it started rain, and then started to rain a lot. I’d left Balranald about 7:15. After backtracking I was back at Balranald by 8:30 now in pouring rain which kept falling for the next 90 minutes. Stopping just prior to arriving at the turn off to Lake Ita in the Kalyarr NationalPark. The picnic area is about 6 km off Oxley Rd. The track in was clearly a dry weather rd and this was most definitely not dry weather. After about 100m I was wondering if driving in here was going to be the cleverest move. Pulled up and hopped out of the car to survey the situation. As I was pondering the situation a little Subaru was coming out of the park. The driver assured me that while the track was pretty slippery, an all wheel drive should be able to make with no issue.
Reassured I gave it a try . I was definitely very slippery with more than a couple of times where the car was sliding up the track with the front of the car facing a different direction to where I was actually going. I should have taken a few pictures but at the time I was a bit more focused on steering.
The trip in was worth the effort. Setup the 40m linked dipole using a picnic table under a shelter to keep out of the rain, which never came in the couple of hours I was there.
Managed 38 contacts over the space of two hours while watching the water birds come and go in the lake. I would have liked to get a another six but it wasn’t to be.
As I packed up the rain returned which provided an equally slippery drive back out. It then continued to rain very heavily for most of the next three and half hours of the drive to Hillston. Which made the driving hard work.
After a very wet Tuesday, Wednesday’s weather was totally different. Blue skies. Light winds and temps in the low 20’s. Perfect to be out in the parks with the radio. Headed North from Hillston with the first target being the NombinnieNatureReserve.
Access via Mileys Fire Trail off the Kidman Way. The track was in good condition, which made for easy access. Certainly a change from the day before.
Setup the 40m linked dipole. Managed 26 contacts on 40m. Dropped the antenna and opened the links for 20m. Called for more than 10 minutes with only a single contact from VK7.
It was then I realised the leg of the dipole connected to the shield of the coax was lying on the ground.. The wire had broken right at the feed point, meaning a field repair was going to be tricky. So decided to pack up and head to the next park.
Wednesday 23rd VKFF-1364 Nombinnie State Conservation Area (49)
Second target for the day was the Nombinnie StateConservation Area. Drove up the Kidmay Way to the Northern end of the park which is bounded by a rail line. The Kidman Way rail crossing has some signaling equipment and a micro Telstra cell, which meant I had phone coverage enabling self spotting and visibility of other activators.
Drove a short way along the rail access track and then carried the gear into the park which looked to have been recently graded and was in good condition.
Set the EFHW up in the shade of a wattle tree with lots of birds flying in and out while I was calling CQ.
Managed 49 contacts including seven on 20m.
Wednesday 23rd VKFF-1784 Lachlan Valley Regional Park (35)
Traveling back down to Hillston noticed a smaller park show up on the map off to the west of Kidman Way. The Lachlan Valley RegionalPark. I’d seen this on the way north but thought the entry gate was a private farm entry. The area had clearly been very wet recently but the first 100m or so of track was fine. It was a bit later in the day so quickly setup the EFHW and managed forty nine contacts over the space of 90 minutes, with seven on 20m, including a contact tje KG8P in Michigan.
This site had lots of these little round melon looking fruit on the ground, which I now understand to be paddy melon. A noxious weed
Another day of driving, this time heading down to Griffith. There’s a couple of parks on the way, the first being Langtree Nature Reserve. Access was via Langtree Rd. Drove to the back of the park where there’s the rail line and the well maintained rail access track. Parked 100m or so along there to where there was a hole in the fence and an appropriate tree to hold the end of the EFHW. Carried the gear into the park and got going.
Weather here was just perfect. Blue sky. Light breeze. And RF conditions seemed good also.
Managed fifty two contacts over the space of an hour, which is very fast for me. It seems like there might be quite a few people who pop into the shack first thing and then head out to get into the days tasks.
Note to self, try and be on air around 9am.
Seven contacts were on 20m. I was finding 20m to be rather frustrating at this time of day. I could just make out US station and on a few occasion thought they were responding to my calls, only to realise they were having a far more local POTA contact.
Thursday 24th VKFF-2724 South West Woodland Nature Reserve (26)
Second park for the day was only a short distance down the Kidman Way. Access was via Bunda Rd. At the eastern end of the park there’s a gate and track into the park beside a very weather beaten sign welcoing visitors to the SouthWest Woodland Reserve.
Pulled in and parked the car and setup the table in the shade of a large tree while the local bird life wondered what I was about. A couple of farmer cars flew down the gravel road so fast I’m sure they had no idea I was here.
Managed 26 contacts over the space of 40 minutes, including one on AM, just for fun.
The fields here are huge. Lost of golden canola in flower along with wheat and barley. All looking great at this time year.
Thursday 24th – Two Failed Access Attempts
It was still quite early so decided to give a thrid park ago. First tried to access PulletopNatureReserve VKFF-2706 via Pulletop Rd. The track in was quite overgrown with bushes rubbing on both side of the car. After a few hundred meters I lost confidence and backed out. In hindsight I should have pushed on. Next time I guess.
The I tried to get into Cocoparra Nature Reserve. Met a farmer (or maybe the farmer’s wife. Not sure) who didn’t think driving in the way I was going was a very good idea. Pushed on only to find a road closed sign due to a washed out causeway.
Checking the maps later, I don’t think there was any access to the park the way I was going anyway. The road closure really did me a favour this time.
Gave up and spent an hour in the Cocoparra State Forest, reading my book and having a snack before driving into Griffith.
Friday 25th VKFF-0104 Cocoparra National Park (57)
Headed out to CocoparraNationalPark nice and early, with the aim of being on air shortly after 9am. Aimed for the picnic area at the head of the Falcon Falls walking track. Access was via Barrys Scenic Drive. All gravel but well maintained.
Setup at a picnic table in the shade. Managed 57 contacts in 80 minutes.
After walking at to Jacks Waterfall (to the track closed sign anyway), headed around to the Mount Brogden Walking track. I’m sure I’d read this was a two to three hour return walk with a grade of ‘Hard’. Not sure that I’m the fastest walker but only took me 90 minutes up and back with a stop for lunch at the top.
The views out over the farmland were worth the walk. All topped off by watching the wedge tails eagles circling on the air currents below the lookout. The only disappointing thing was that I hadn’t carried the radio up and activated the summit.
Friday 25th – Third failed access attempt.
I’d originally planned to have another go at getting into Cocoparra Nature Reserve but the signs flagged the road as 4WD with limited access so I looked for anything else close by. Found KoonadanHistoric Site, VKFF-3259. My quick internet search on the phone suggested that it’s have easy access, so spent 50 minutes driving down here. Start off trying to get in from the south. The track had been very wet but was drying. However it still had some very wet patch and some soft spots, which seemed rather risky, so turned around. Tried from the east, again the track was very wet. Tried from the north. Again the track had been wet and was drying, but not dry. I’d reckon another couple of days and both north and south would been fine.
Looking later, I think the best track would have been Maher Road from the west. Oh well. Next time.
Saturday 26th VKFF-0403 Oolambeyan National Park (50)
Last park for the trip was the Oolambeyan National Park, south west of Griffith and sort of on the way home. I used Google Maps to decide the route to the park which I have no doubt took me via the shorest route, but it wasn’t the most sensible. Spent an hour driving on dirt roads when I could easily have been on the 100 Kmh highway and added minimal extra distance.
Came in via Conargo Rd to Gum Tree Road and finally into the park via Oolambeyan Road. Lots of dirt roads on the way in but all were in good condition and easliy passable in a 2WD. The road in had lots of emus, red and grey kangaroos, wedge tail eagles, falcons and parrots.
Pulled up at the picnic shelter and setup after checking out the homestead and shearing sheds. The homestead is always open but the shearing sheds quarters and sheds aren’t in a state that allows visitors to go inside.
Setup at one of the picnic tables using a squid pole to to get some height for the EFHW. Managed to make 50 contacts over the space of 45 minutes with 3 on 20m.
As I was packing up the ranger turned up. Apparently he lives on site a 100m or so away from the picnic area, which explains why the site had some cell coverage. I asked him how many people visited the park. He reckoned it was around 30 a year!
It was definitely worth a visit. It’s a pity they don’t have a camping area as it’d be a great spot to spend the night.
From there it was time to drive home. Headed south using Conargo Road then Carrathool Road. Again it was the most direct route but it did have an extended session of gravel.
After a pie at the bakery in Deniliquin all that was left was the drive home. It was great trip away. In hindsight I might have been better to go a couple of weeks later when the tracks may have been a little drier. As always, research on access is easier when done in advance and pays off on the day.
Looking forward to doing it all again soon. And thank-you to all who responded to my calls.
vk3oak 