It was now day ten (Thursday 15th April 2021) of our trip. We had planned on heading out to Mungo National Park today, but after a visit to the Robinvale Visitor Information Centre, we were convinced to leave that trip til the next day and leave bright and early.
While at the Visitor Info Centre we had a look at the old Robinvale Railway Station. It was built in 1924 at the terminal station on the Korong Vale line to service north western Victoria. This line took a period of almost 40 years to reach from Korong Vale. The Robinvale Station is classified as a 1919 Type C design and is the only remaining example of its type. The Edwardian 1919 design incorporates a lobby one end, an office area and ladies waiting room with a verandah facing the platform, with a yard toilet on the opposite end.
With our plans changed, we decided to activate a couple of parks and visit the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers.
Our first park activation for the day was the Tol Tol Flora & Fauna Reserve VKFF-2173, which is located about 10 km south of Robinvale.
We headed out of Robinvale on the Murray Valley Highway and then turned right onto Cook Road. We soon reached the park which was well signposted.
This was to be another first time activation of this park for both of us. The park had however been activated back in 2019 by Mike VK6MB.
The Tol Tol Flora & Fauna Reserve is 2.62 km² in size and was established in 2009. The park takes its name from the locality of Tol Tol. The Tol Tol Post office was open between 1924 and 1926.
The park is a small piece of remnant scrub which is surrounded by cleared farming land.
We found an open gate and drove into the park a short distance along the 4WD track.
We were set up and ready to go about 50 minutes before the UTC rollover which we hoped to use to our advantage to get to 44 QSOs. Marija placed a spot up for me on parksnpeaks while I called CQ on 7.144. This was answered by regular park hunter Gerard VK2IO, followed by Peter VK3TKK mobile, and then Glen VK4HMI.
Callers were quite spare and contact number ten for me was 16 minutes into the activation, with a QSO with Ray VK4NH.
Once I had qualified the park for VKFF with 10 contacts, I swapped the mic with Marija. Her first contact was with Ray VK4NH. Marija’s tenth contact was with Peter VK2KA.
Marija was happy that she had qualified the park for VKFF, and I jumped back into the operator’s chair with the hope that I might be able to get 44 contacts. However, it did not look promising as callers were slow.
Fortunately as the morning went on, the number of callers increased and I logged a total of 32 stations on 40m before the UTC rollover.
After the UTC rollover I logged a further 20 stations including three Park to Park QSOs: Joe VK3SRC/p and Julie VK3FOWL/p in the Churchill National Park VKFF-0621; and Marcel VK1ZAX/p in the Kosciuszko National Park VKFF-0269.
Contact number 44 was with Damien VK3EJ.
I also tried 80m where I logged 3 stations from VK2 and VK3.
And then 3 contacts on the 20m band into VK4.
Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK4KC
- VK4MAD
- VK4DOG
- VK1DI
- VK4HNS
- VK3ZM
- VK2KA
I worked the following stations before the UTC rollover on 40m SSB:-
- VK2IO
- VK3TKK/m
- VK4HMI
- VK4WTN
- VK2HRX
- VK4HNS
- VK3ZM
- VK3MCK
- VK3NFS
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK4FDJL
- VK1DI
- VK2VW
- VK2HFI
- VK5HAA
- VK2AB
- VK4KC
- VK4MAD
- VK4DOG
- VK3ZPF
- VK3ANP
- VK5FB
- VK3IH
- VK7QP
- VK7AN
- VK3SKT
- VK3PF
- VK2ABS
- VK3CWF
- VK1BUB
I worked the following stations after the UTC rollover on 40m SSB:-
- VK3SRC (Churchill National Park VKFF-0621)
- VK3FOWL (Churchill National Park VKFF-0621)
- VK3CWF
- VK4KC
- Vk4MAD
- VK4DOG
- VK7QP
- VK2VW
- VK2HFI
- VK5WG
- VK5FB
- VK3EJ
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
- ZL4TY/VK4
- VK3TEK
- VK3PF
- VK1ZAX/p (Kosciuszko National Park VKFF-0269)
- VK7AN
- VK3ZPF
- VK1DI
I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK3PF
- VK3MCK
- VK2DG
I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-
- VK4KC
- VK4MAD
- VK4DOG
References.
Protected Planet, 2021, <https://www.protectedplanet.net/314763>, viewed 9th May 2021.
Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tol_Tol,_Victoria>, viewed 9th May 2021
VK5PAS 