After leaving Tilley Swamp, Marija and I headed for our next intended park activation, the Mount Scott Conservation Park 5CP-150 & VKFF-0918. The park is located about 317 km south east of Adelaide, and about 25 km east of the town of Kingston.
Above:- Map showing the location of the Mount Scott Conservation Park. Map courtesy of Protected Planet.
On the way, we detoured off the Princes Highway, onto the Old Coorong Road and drove through the Coorong National Park. We stopped off at The Granites, which is located at Long Bay. The Granites consist of some large rocks on this beautiful section of beach, just south of The Coorong.
We then drove into the town of Kingston, stopping off at the Big Lobster for a quick photo. It’s a bit sad to see that the shop adjacent to the Big Lobster is empty. It was previously a visitor complex which included a restaurant. The Big Lobster was opened on 15 December 1979 after six months of construction. The structure is 17 metres high, 15.2 metres long, and 13.7 metres wide.
We then stopped at the foreshore and enjoyed some lunch. As you can see from the photo below, Marija acquired some friends, who were keen on their share of our lunch.
We then stopped off briefly to have a look at the Cape Jaffa lighthouse, which was originally built on the Margaret Brook Reef, 8 km out to sea from Cape Jaffa, and 20 km south west of Kingston. The lighthouse was constructed to protect ships in the area, with work commencing in late 1868, and completing in January 1872.
Kingston contains many historic buildings and there is a heritage trail which highlights many of these. We took the time to admire some of those buildings.
We then stopped off at the Fish Sales shop on the foresehore and purchased some fresh South Australian prawns.
It was then off to the Mount Scott Conservation Park, which is 1,267 hectares in size and located in the locality of Blackford. The park takes its name from the nearby small hill of Mount Scott. The park was proclaimed on the 9th day of November 1972, and is located on part of the South East relict beach dunes. The park protects a variety of vegetation, including large River Red Gums, South Australian Blue Gum, Pink Gum, Swamp Paper-bark, and Mallee Honey-myrtle.
Birds SA have recorded mored than 136 native species of bird in the park including Malleefowl, Galah, Eastern Rosella, New Holland Honeyeater, Grey Shrikethrush, White-browed Babbler, Silvereye, Painted Buttonquail, Cockatiel, Blue-winged Parrot, and Crested Bellbird.
We took the Princes Highway out of Kingston, and turned on to Rowney Road West. We then turned right onto Mount Scott Road. The park is signposted at this location.
We soon reached the park which was well signposted. But at the same time we saw the park sign, we saw another sign advising that the park was closed for pest eradication. Fortunately it was for 2018. The authorities had not bothered to take down the sign.
We drove a short distance down a dirt track to a camping area and set up.
Above:- An aerial shot of the Mount Scott Conservation Park, showing our operating spot. Image courtesy of Protected Planet.
Once again I kicked off the activation, calling CQ on 7.144. Unfortunately, we had very little, if any phone coverage, so we were unable to throw up a spot on parksnpeaks. We were lucky because Mike VK6MB/3 came back to my CQ call. This was followed by Ken VK3UH, Dennis VK2HHA, and then John VK4TJ. I had soon qualified the park for VKFF, with 10 contacts, and swapped the mic with Marija.
Marija then took charge of the station and her first contact was with Rob VK2QR. Rob was gracious enough to provide Marija with his 4 other callsigns, so Marija was already halfway there in qualifying the park for VKFF. Within 6 minutes, Marija had 10 contacts in the log. Contact number 10 was with Paul VK3HN.
We then swapped the mic once again. I logged a further 4 stations on 40m, before callers tapered off. It was time to head to 20m. I called CQ on 14.310 and this was answered by Ray VK4NH, followed by John VK4TJ, and then Andrei ZL1TM in New Zealand. I then moved down the band to 14.183 and booked in to the ANZA DX Net, where I logged a total of 4 stations, from VK4, New Zealand, and the South Cook Islands.
I now had 26 stations in the log and headed to 3.610 on the 80m band. I logged 5 stations here, from VK3 and VK5. Conditions on 80m were exceptional, but despite that, I only worked the 5 stations. This included Hans VK5YX in the southern suburbs of Adelaide who was super strong and gave me a 15/9 signal report. Hans was really surprised at the performance of the 80m band for this time of the day. I also logged Mike VK5FMWW who gave me a 15/9 signal report.
I then moved back to 40m and both Marija and I logged Angela VK7FAMP and Tony VK7LTD who were in the Freycinet National Park VKFF-0188. I soon had 44 contacts in the log, with contact number 44 being Gary VK2FABE. Marija and I also spoke with Jonathan VK7JON and Helen VK7FOLK who were in the St Helens Conservation Park VKFF-1153. But the biggest surprise of the afternoon was to be called on 40m by Lauro IK4GRO. Lauro was 5/7 and gave me a 5/3 signal report. Not bad for 40 watts and a little piece of wire.
I ended up making a total of 48 QSOS.
Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK2QR
- VK2SWL
- VK2TTY
- VK3TTY/2
- VK3QJ/2
- VK6MB/3
- VK2HHA
- VK2KYO
- VK3UH
- VK3HN
- VK7FAMP/p (Freycinet National Park VKFF-0188)
- VK7LTD/p (Freycinet National Park VKFF-0188)
- VK7FOLK/p (St Helens Conservation Park VKFF-1153)
- VK7JON/p (St Helens Conservation Park VKFF-1153)
I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK6MB/3
- VK3UH
- VK2HHA
- VK4TJ
- VK4/AC8WN
- VK4/VE6XT
- VK3HN
- VK2QR
- VK2SWL
- VK2TTY
- VK3TTY/2
- VK2LEE
- VK3HQZ
- VK2YW
- VK7DW
- VK7FAMP/p (Freycinet National Park VKFF-0188)
- VK7LTD/p (Freycinet National Park VKFF-0188)
- VK3QJ
- VK3PF
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- ZL1TM
- VK4RF
- VK4HA
- VK2HRX
- VK2IO/m
- VK2FABE
- IK4GRO
- VK7HCK
- VK7FOLK/p (St Helens Conservation Park VKFF-1153)
- VK7JON/p (St Helens Conservation Park VKFF-1153)
I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK4TJ
- VK4/AC8WN
- VK4/VE6XT
- ZL1TM
- VK4LMB
- ZL2GLG
- E51JD
- VK4PDX
I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK3PF
- VK3FPSR
- VK5HY
- VK5YX
- VK5FMWW
After packing up, Marija and I stopped briefly to have a look at the old Bullocky Bridge, which was a 90 feet long bridge built in the 1850’s, spanning the Reedy Creek. It served as the main outlet for heavily laden bullock wagons between the Tatiara district and Port Caroline (Kingston), between 1856 and 1910. The remaining logs are approximately 160 years old.
We then drove back along the Princes Highway and I worked Franc F5PAU in France. Franc was 5/9 and gave me a 5/6 into western Europe. Marija and I then stopped briefly to have a look at a monument, erected in honour of the crew of an Avro Anson aircraft which crashed in 1942 at Reedy Creek, killing the five airmen.
We then reached Beachport and booked in to our accommodation, the Beachport Motor Inn, which we can highly recommend.
We then headed out for tea to Bompas and had a terrific Chinese meal. It was then back to the motel to watch a bit of telly and then retire for the night.
References.
Birds SA, 2019, <https://birdssa.asn.au/location/mount-scott-conservation-park/>, viewed 28th March 2019
Wikipedia, 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lobster>, viewed 28th March 2019
Wikipedia, 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Scott_Conservation_Park>, viewed 28th March 2019
VK5PAS 