Willawarrin Pub Run

14 October 2015 / Words Greg Cox, Pictures Keiran Rodgers

As the year draws nearer to a close, I thought we should try a new destination for our October run, and what better than an historic 1890s bush pub in the heart of Slim Dusty country.

After a quick coffee at the Rivermark Café in Port Macquarie, our five MX-5s drove north through the never ending and frustrating road works that is the M1 freeway to Kempsey. As we drove into Kempsey for morning tea at the River Cafe, we met Mike Walken‐Brown who had driven down from Nambucca Heads to join us. We enjoyed a sumptuous snack while overlooking the Macleay River in a beautiful garden setting with the township of Kempsey in the background. Prior to departing the car park, we had the pleasure of comparing the sound from new Roadster Sport mufflers recently fitted to Peter and Kevin’s MX-5s. The jury is still out, but I still prefer mine!

Crossing the Kempsey bridge, we then drove west on the Armidale Kempsey road to where the fun really began on this quiet, winding stretch of road, ideally suited to our MX-5s. We soon passed the original home of Slim Dusty and followed the Macleay river flats out to the small village of Bellbrook.  After a short break we drove back to our lunch destination, the Willawarrin Hotel.

We arrived to some initial confusion over our lunch booking, which they had recorded as dinner, however, the Chef soon managed to satisfy most of our orders. Carole and Keiran then hit the snooker table for some high stakes pool, while Mike W and Peter McD discussed the finer points of wine and other expensive beverages, which Mike later displayed from the boot of his MX-5.

As we were saying our goodbyes, we noticed a young boy drooling over our collection of MX-5s, so Kevin took him for a short ride while his Mum stood by with her camera. We may have a new club member in around 10 years.

We then said our farewells and agreed the Willwarrin Pub should become an annual feature on our run calendar.