After packing up at Mite Lake, Marija pointed out that there was another park very close by, the Grassflat Swamp Flora & Fauna Reserve VKFF-2326. The park is located about 380 km northwest of the city of Melbourne.
This was to be a first-time activation of the park for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.
Above:- Map showing the location of the Grassflat Swamp Flora & Fauna Reserve. Map courtesy of Protected Planet.
The park is located to the little locality of Grass Flat. Don’t blink, as you will miss Grass Flat.
We accessed the park via Telfers Road. The park was well signposted.
The Grassflat Swamp Flora & Fauna Reserve is located just to the north of Mitre Lake Flora & Fauna Reserve. The park is part of Telfer’s Swamp.
Above:- An aerial view of the Grassflat Swamp Flora and Fauna Reserve. Image courtesy of Google maps.
The park is about 86 acres in size. There was very little if any water in the swamp during our visit.
I operated from the vehicle for this activation. I ran the Icom IC-7000, 100 watts, and the Codan 9350 self-tuning antenna mounted on the rear of the Toyota Hi-Lux.
Above:- An aerial view of the Grassflat Swamp Flora & Fauna Reserve showing our operating spot. Image courtesy of Google Earth.
The 40m band was quite busy and it was a bit of a struggle to find a clear spot on the band. I started calling CQ on 7.140 whilst Marija put up a spot to advise that this was going to be a quick activation. First in the log was Charlie VK5VC, followed by Scott VK4CZ, Peter VK5PET, and Adrian VK5FANA.
It took me just 7 minutes to qualify the park for VKFF. Contact number ten was with Glenn VK4FARR. Two QSOs later I logged Gerard VK2IO/p for a Park to Park contact. Gerard was in the VKFF-0444.
I went on to work a total of 31 stations on 40m including a further Park to Park, with Alan VK2MG/p in the Bouddi National Park VKFF-0049.
I then moved to the 20m band where I logged 23 stations from VK2, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7, and New Zealand. This included a Park to Park with Gerard VK2IO/p, for a second band.
It was time for us to head off for some tea. Amazingly I had 54 QSOs in the log. I was hoping to get my 10 QSOs and qualify the park for VKFF. So to get 44 QSOs and qualify the park for WWFF was a real bonus.
I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK5VC
- VK4CZ
- VK5PET
- VK5FANA
- VK5WG
- VK2YK
- VK5CZ
- VK3PF
- VK5KPR
- VK4FARR
- VK5LA
- VK2IO/p (Scheyville National Park VKFF-0444)
- VK3UH
- VK3MPR
- VK3RU
- VK5NJ
- VK3JAP
- VK4TJ
- VK2MG/p (Bouddi National Park VKFF-0049)
- ZL1TM
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK4FDJL/5
- VK5KLV
- VK5DW
- VK5SRV
- VK4SMA
- VK6NTE
- VK5FSAM
- VK5WU
I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-
- VK6NTE
- VK5CZ
- VK7JON
- VK4TJ
- VK4/AC8WN
- VK4/VE6XT
- VK4SSN
- VK4SMA
- VK2YK
- VK6GA/2
- VK5GA/2
- VK2NN
- VK7VZ
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK2IO/p (Scheyville National Park VKFF-0444)
- VK5KLV
- VK2LEE
- VK2UXO
- VK4KK
- ZL1TM
- VK7KT
We packed up and headed back to Dimboola where we went to the Victoria Hotel again for our evening meal.
Following our meal, we had a drive around Dimboola having a look at some of the points of interest.
References.
Protected Planet, 2019, <https://www.protectedplanet.net/grassflat-swamp-f-f-r-nature-conservation-reserve>, viewed 10th December 2019
VK5PAS 