Christmas in July at Fountaindale
05 August 2014 / Kerry Evans
On a very crisp Canberra Sunday morning on the 27th of July, an intrepid band of 8 MX5ers met at 8am at McDonalds at Epic on Northbourne Avenue for our usual get together before setting off with tops down at 8:30 for Fountaindale at Robertson. Great to see new members John and Janet Jasinski with their silver NC join us for their first run. Some members had to go via other routes to pick up their partners and were to meet us at the Truck Stop at Marulan. The weather Gods were very kind to us when as on leaving the sky was clear and sunny, as the previous days earlier in the week left a lot to be desired.
Travelling up the Federal Highway we soon hit a large bank of fog, sometimes very thick. Not to be deterred, we turned off the highway onto Macs Reef Road and travelled a very scenic route via Bungendore (where the fog lifted), Tarago and onto the highway again at Goulburn for a run up to Marulan to the Truck Stop for a quick coffee and break. The other members joined us there and we set off on the final leg of our journey via some beautiful southern highlands roads and villages such as Tallong, Bundanoon, Moss Vale and onto our destination at Fountaindale Grand Manor at Robertson.
With the place bedecked with festive decorations and an open fireplace in the foyer to greet and warm us on arrival, we met up with the rest of the Canberra contingent who drove to Fountaindale on the Saturday and stayed the night. In the dining room there were two large open fireplaces at either end of the room which made the environment very cosy and congenial.
With around 30 fellow MX5ers from Illawarra, Sydney and RPM and 27 members from the Canberra contingent, it was quite a large group for lunch in the dining room. After the lunch celebrations most of the revellers left for home and a few of us adjourned to the lounge area and sat around the fireplace enjoying a few more beverages of different kinds as we wiled away the afternoon.
After saying farewell to some of the others, there was a group of eight left who were staying the night. It was decided that after some of us took a walk around the grounds and around Robertson, we would meet at around 5:30pm in the lounge area and walk into Robertson to the Inn and have dinner.
The meals at the Inn were excellent and a few more beverages were consumed before walking back to Fountaindale. The walk back was extremely dark and cold and on arrival back, while we were warming ourselves around the open fire in the foyer, we were met by Carol the owner. After a while, someone (Dave I think), asked Carol if there had been any ghosts seen at Fountaindale. Carol then went into many stories of sightings over the years of people seeing apparitions in various areas of the building. With this in mind, we all retired to our rooms for the night.
Our little group met for breakfast the next morning. During conversation it came up that, after the talk of ghosts the previous night, one of our group scared the daylights out of themselves after seeing an apparition whilst getting up through the night to go to the bathroom. After nearly having a heart attack, it was then realised that it was not a ghost, but a reflection of themselves in one of the full length mirrors in the room.
We then went our various ways back to Canberra. I hope that everyone who went to Fountaindale enjoyed themselves, Rhonda and I certainly did – zoom, zoom to all.
