It was now Friday, 24th November 2025, and time for Marija and me to do some more preparation for the 2025 VKFF National Get Together that was to commence later that evening.

After breakfast, our first stop was Watts Communications at Fyshwick to collect the Icom IC-2730A, which had been kindly donated for our raffle.

Our next stop was the Canberra and Region Visitors Centre at Regatta Point. We had arranged to collect some tourist material that would be provided to all attendees in their Welcome pack.

We then wandered next door and enjoyed a magnificent breakfast at the Walter Cafe.

There are some magnificent views to be enjoyed from here of Lake Burley Griffin and Canberra.

Whenever I am in Canberra, I always visit the National Police Memorial at Parkes, ACT. The memorial pays tribute to Australian Police Officers who have been killed on duty or have died as a result of their duties. A total of 830 police appear on the wall.

Marija and I then headed back to the motel and met up with Hans VK6XN and Chris VK5FR, who assisted us in putting the Welcome packs together.

After freshening up, it was in an Uber and off to the Friday evening venue, the first stage of the 2025 VKFF National Get Together. It was quite cramped in the Uber as you can see from the photos below.

The Friday evening dinner was held at The Lighthouse Pub at Belconnen. A total of 42 people attended the dinner. We were not the only ones at the hotel, but we did have our own section. The meals were excellent and were served very promptly. It was a great night mixing with amateurs from all around Australia.