Because too much radio is never enough, having finished at midday a decent effort for the Summer VHF/UHF Field day as a home station, and because I’m trying to loose some weight and an afternoon mountain climb seemed like a good idea at the time. Sunday afternoon was warm, and we didn’t have anything else to do (we should have been painting more of the house), we packed ourselves all into the car and headed to the You Yangs ranges towards Geelong for a look, and maybe a walk/ Sota Activation on Flinders Peak VK3/VC-030.

We arrived in the mid afternoon, and it was a bit warm, we had a look around the lower picnic areas and went for a small walk to a place called Big Rock, before taking the aptly named Great Circle Drive road around the mountain range to take in the sights and see the sun drop a bit lower in the sky to take some of the heat out of the day. I had made a tentative alert for 4pm, but we were well and truly going to miss that. We finally pulled up at the turntable carpark some time after 4 and set about tackling the Flinders peak walk. The sign at the bottom of the walk talked about it being a challenging walk featuring 450 steps and rising 200m in elevation. We had plenty of water and some afternoon tea, and we set off. It was an easy walk, even with the steps, but the kids kept having to stop for a drink, it was still 30 degrees, but as we climbed, the afternoon sea breeze was a nice relief. The walk’s stats.

The track is very well formed with steps and track section, some steep areas, but the steps are well placed and spaced as you climb up, ¾ of the way up, there is a lookout towards Melbourne before the final step section to the top, before you know it, you are at the final lookout. We all walked to the top of the lookout and had a photo, before i found a spot and setup the station against a tree and some rocks and started my activation while the kids climbed over the rocks and lookout.

40m first with some very strong vk2 and VK7 stations but weak local Melbourne contacts. Then i moved to 10m and 6m before giving 20m a try. I had planned to fire up the 2m/70cm handheld, but totally forgot in the end. I had easily qualified the summit anyway, as had Christine. Thanks to all those who we worked.

We packed up and began the walk down the mountain, the kids wouldn’t listen to us, and proceeded to run the whole way down, Christine and I finally reached them as they sat bored at the bottom waiting for us! Thats what they get for not waiting. We jumped back into the car and headed into Geelong for a Fish and Chips dinner in the park by the bay before the return trip home, a nice way to spend a summers evening!.

Christine’s Log, just enough to qualify!

Date:10/Jan/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-030 (Flinders Peak) Call Used:VK3FCEK Points: 1 Bonus: 0

And my Log. Including some 10m and 6m contacts for the challenge.

Date:10/Jan/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-030 (Flinders Peak) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 1 Bonus: 0