Sunday once again saw long courses � this time of 100km and started at 5am.  I am pleased we were not involved in the setting of any of the loops as the woman who was had a very hard time during the last few weeks with farmers ringing to say that certain paddocks were no longer available as the grain had not yet been harvested!!  She was getting extremely expert as redesigning loops by the Thursday.  Then just to make her day Carter Holt Harvey decided about 4pm on Thursday afternoon that they wanted to close the forest because of the Nor�west weather.  Some fast talking convinced them that the horses would all be clear of that area by daylight so the ban was lifted but was enforced on the Sunday which was not so difficult to cope with being that much shorter.

 All in all it was a very interesting weekend, the weather was good except for the late Sunday afternoon and it was good to see that almost every rider thanked those on checkpoint duty as they went past, especially on the final round.  At the conclusion of the weekend a National Team was selected to attend the World Horse Endurance event later in the year in Spain.  Should any of your Clubs be asked to provide comms for a similar event Branch 68 will be more than willing to share our experiences and thoughts with you to assist with the smooth running if you feel it would help.  We all enjoyed the experience.

Anne ZL3VR

YL MINI DX - PEDITION IN OCTOBER 2002.

C21 Due to circumstances completely beyond their control, the YL mini-DXers will not be able to visit Nauru next October as planned. To avoid disappointment to a number of amateurs who need C21 on 10m and 12m, Peter, C21TA, will try to activate those bands during his business trips to the island over the next few months. The YLs, however, will still operate from Lord Howe Island as VK9YL, 15th to 29th September as previously announced.

ZK1 - South Cook. YLs Elizabeth/VE7YL (CW), June/VK4SJ, Mio/JR3MVF and Gwen/VK3DYL will operate from the Cook Islands - Aitutaki Island (OC-083) 1st to 6th October, and from Rarotonga (OC-013) 7th to 15th October. Callsign to be announced later. QSL to VK3DYL direct (Gwen Tilson, 3 Gould Crt., Mt. Waverley 3149, Australia) with sufficient return postage. Green stamps would be appreciated since this is a self-funded DXpedition though cards via the VK3 Buro will also be answered. Direct cards without sufficient postage will be returned via the Buro

Gwen VK3DYL