After my activation of Murray Sunset National Park in north western Victoria, I headed back over the border and travelled to the Lyrup Flats section of the Murray River National Park near Renmark in South Australia.  I had earlier arranged an activation at Murray River NP with Larry VK5LY, Ivan VK5HS & Peter VK5FLEX.

The park qualifies for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program and also the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Murray River NP.  Image courtesy of mapcarta.com

I accessed the park off the Sturt Highway and travelled down the dirt road into the park.  The park is well sign posted on the Sturt Highway.

The sign on the Sturt Hwy

The dirt road leading into the park

As you travel along the dirt road through the park you will notice all of the dead trees.  This is due to the salinity in the soil in the Flats area of the park.

I travelled down to one of the smaller dirt tracks leading off to the River itself and set up at one of the campsites.  It was a real shame to see that somebody had been there before me, and had left their campfire full of broken bottles and empty food cans.  Not surprising really, as I would imagine there is very little policing of the park by DEWNT due to staff shortages.  A real pity!

For this activation I used the Yaesu FT-857d and the 40m/20m linked dipole on top of the 7 metre squid pole.

Despite the grubs that had left the campsite untidy, this was a very beautiful spot right alongside of the Murray River.   It was a beautiful mild day with minimal breeze and the river was very still most of the time, except for the occasional boat that passed by.

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It wasn’t long before Ivan, Larry and Peter were on scene and we were up on air.  The main reason for this activation was to get Larry VK5LY out and about in his first park after a long absence due to ill health.  And it wasn’t long before Larry had a pile up going on 40m.  It was great to see.

Thanks to everyone that called Larry.  It was extremely pleasing to see Larry back on air, with a smile on his face, operating from a park.

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Peter VK5FLEX then worked a few stations on 40m, and when Peter had finished I jumped on to 20m and worked a total of 28 stations in Europe.  But it was starting to get quite late in the afternoon and I still had a 2 & 1/2 hour drive to get home, so I had to go QRT.  I am sorry to all those that were still calling.

As I mentioned earlier, the River was very still at times and presented with some excellent photo opportunities, with the River Red Gums on the other side of the river, reflecting off the water.

And as we left the park, there was plenty of wildlife to be seen, including Western Grey kangaroos and Emus.

And I was blessed with a beautiful drive home to the Adelaide Hills.  The moon was coming out as the sun started to set in the west.  And it was an amazing sunset.

I worked the following stations during the activation:-

1. VK5BJE/p (Belair National Park)
2. VK3ARR/p
3. I5FLN
4. S58AL
5. ON5SWA
6. IK1GPG
7. EA3MP
8. DL1EBR
9. UT5PI
10. RA3PCI
11. ON4ATK
12. OP7M
13. OZ5HP
14. IC8ATA
15. DL4PT
16. DL5WW
17. DJ8QP
18. VK6MB
19. ON7AB
20. VK4QO
21. VK2BSY/pedestrian mobile
22. F5OUD
23. SA5ACR
24. PE1DH
25. UR7ET
26. MM0GTU
27. F6HQP
28. G0RQL
29. M0HOO

References.

Department of Environment and Heritage, 2011, Parks of the Riverland.