My third and final park activation for Friday 10th June 2016 was the Aberdour Conservation Park VKFF-0994 and 5CP-001.  The park is situated about 260 km south east of Adelaide and about 35 km south of Keith.

This was again to be another unique park for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  The park has been activated previously for the VK5 Parks Award, but not for WWFF.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Aberdour Conservation Park in the South East of South Australia.  Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

After leaving Christmas Rocks CP I continued south on Riddoch Highway until I reached Cannawigara Road on the eastern side of the Highway.

The weather was moving in fast with predicted heavy rainfall for the afternoon.  I soon reached the south western corner of the park where there is a sandy 4WD track.  I toyed with the idea whether I should venture down there, but as I was on my own and there was predicted heavy rain, I decided against it.

I continued on through the park until I reached Nankivell Road and travelled north, following the eastern boundary of the park, until I found a clearing in the scrub.

Aberdour Conservation Park is around 133 hectares in size and was dedicated as a Conservation Park in February 1991.  It was a gift from the Nankivell family (named after the road I was on).  The park preserves an area of remnant vegetation which is very typical of undulating dune and limestone country of the South East of South Australia.  The endangered Jumping Jack Wattle can be found in the park.

As the weather was rapidly setting in, I quickly set up the fold up table and deck chair, and the Yaesu FT-857d and the 40m/20m linked dipole.  I started calling CQ on 7.144 and my first hunter for the park was Dennis VK2HHA with a beautiful 5/9 signal, followed by Chris VK3PAT (also 5/9) and then David VK5PL from the Barossa Valley who was also 5/9.  During the activation the wind really picked up and I lost the squid pole at one stage in the middle of a QSO.  After making 24 contacts on 40m, the drizzle set in and I was forced to hide underneath the bothy bag.

I cut 40m a bit short and headed up to 20m where I made a total of 4 contacts, until the drizzle turned to rain, and I had rain droplets seeping through the bothy bag.  I quickly packed up the gear and made a hasty retreat for the Toyota HiLux.  I apologise to those stations that were still calling, but the rain had become very heavy and steady.  I will need to go back to this park to pick up the remaining QSOs to reach the 44 QSO threshold for WWFF.

Thanks to everyone who spotted me during this activation, as I had no mobile telephone coverage, and was unable to self spot on parksnpeaks.

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2HHA
2. VK3PAT
3. VK5PL
4. VK3SQ
5. VK3TKK mobile
6. VK7LCW
7. VK1AT
8. VK3PF
9. VK3GGG
10. VK3PMG
11. VK3DAC
12. VK4AAC/3
13. VK3ARH
14. VK5KLV
15. VK2YZS mobile
16. VK2CPC/p
17. VK2IPK
18. VK2VOM
19. VK3SFG
20. VK3UH
21. VK3QA
22. VK4RF
23. VK4HA
24. VK3ZMD

The following stations were worked on 20m SSB:-

1. VK4RF
2. VK4HA
3. VK5KLV
4. VK2DEK

I then headed off to Mount Gambier, with the sub completely gone and the rain really teeming down.  After booking in to my motel, I headed around to have a coffee with Col VK5HCF.