Comboyne Run

28 April 2019 / Words by John Hansen, Photos by Graham Rochester

Our meeting place for the Mid North Coast Chapter Tuesday run on 23 April 2019 was Oliver’s at the Port Macquarie Service Centre. Blue skies with occasional white clouds above us and moderate temperatures made it almost mandatory that the roof be lowered for the run.

Nine cars made up our numbers, Peter run leader in his black NB, Keiran and Peter in their Burgundy Heritage NB, Margaret and Murray with their burnished red NC, Allen with grand-daughter Kate in his red ND, Judith and John in their galaxy grey NC and Grahame in his blue MX5-BMW. We also had three prospective new members, Mike in a red NB, Jenny and John in their new RF and Ricky with a Porsche who was contemplating the purchase of an MX-5 to go on club runs.

The first part of the run was down to the Waterman’s Cafe at Wauchope for a late breakfast or early morning tea. We were quite surprised to see that by the time we turned onto the highway our convoy had been joined by an older model Rolls Royce, that joined us for the run down to Wauchope. Waterman’s Cafe lived up to its reputation for tasty food, after fortifying ourselves, it was time for the drive up to Comboyne.

There was very little traffic on the road to Comboyne. The run up through the green countryside against the backdrop of distant hills made the twisty road seem even more attractive. The road twists and turns with several very interesting decreasing radius 25 kph corners to test driving skills. Concentration is required to avoid the detritus of rocks that have fallen on one side and the very sharp drop off on the other. All in all an exhilarating drive to the top and then a relatively flat open road into Comboyne itself.

Regrouping at Comboyne, we pressed on to the Boorganna Nature reserve which was the start of the walking track down to Boorganna Falls. This road is quite narrow and although very picturesque has a considerable amount of tourist traffic until the dirt turn off to the reserve itself. The short section to the reserve was taken very gingerly as the low riding height of the MX-5 caused many of our cars to “touch” down on the very uneven road surface.

The track down to Boorganna Falls starts off at quite a gentle grade which becomes quite deceptive as it slowly increases in steepness. We were warned by those who had previously walked the track to remember that for every step on the way down meant a similar step up coming back. Our intrepid walkers spit up into three main groups, those who were determined to get down to the lookout, those who decided to turn back when the track became a little steeper and a main group who went about half way to the lookout. It was certainly true that the uphill walk to the start of the track seemed to have become very much steeper and harder than on the way down. The falls tack was very interesting with many informative signs about the types of trees and vegetation that we encountered.

We all agreed that the walk had given us an appetite and it was time to head for the Udder Cow Cafe at Comboyne for lunch. A few drops of rain helped cool us down on the way back to the cafe.

Lunch was a most convivial affair and marked the end of the run and after the usual protracted goodbyes and ‘show and tell’ of our cars we made our way down the hill back home. Although the run was quite short, in terms of driving it had provided us with some entertaining driving, dramatic scenery and a challenging bushwalk with, of course, good eating in the company of fellow members.

Thanks, must go to our club’s Convenors, Peter and Allen for organising the run and to Graham for taking the photographs.