Buladelah via Krambach Run

15 March 2023 / Words by John Hansen, Photos by Wayne Lang

Olivers, at the Port Macquarie Service Centre, was the staging point for the day’s run where a group of fifteen people gathered eager for the start of an interesting day driving and eating. There was a mix of nine MX-5’s which included NBs, NCs, NDs and a MX-5 RFGT making a total of nine cars. It was decided that despite some dark clouds gathering above it should be a top down day.

 

Keiran, the run leader, led us off down the Pacific Highway to Taree with Roby and Peter taking up the ‘sweep car’ position. Due to reasonably heavy traffic it had been agreed that there was little point in trying to keep together as a convoy and it was safer to just go with the flow enjoying the feel of the breeze as we made our way to the turn off.

 

The South Taree Turn off ramp came up in a relatively short period of time and we all successfully negotiated the series of roundabouts around the Manning River Drive to take the historic Bucketts Way down to Krambach for morning tea. This road was originally constructed as a track in the 1840s for access to the region’s agricultural resources and was part of the land route to Brisbane with punts providing the river crossings.

 

The remoteness of the area was an attraction to some well known Bushrangers such as the Clark Gang who operated in the 1840 and 1850’s, the Jewboy Gang in 1860 and of course the infamous Captain Thunderbolt (Frederick Ward) in the 1860’s. The remoteness of the area meant that travellers needed to keep a sharp watch out. Today we just kept a careful watch out for wild life on the road and of course on the road speed limits to prevent any surprises! The recent bad weather had left its toll on the road in terms of potholes and bumps which produced some interesting clangs from a couple of our cars as we bumped along the road.

 

The countryside presented an interesting backdrop of lush green with sloping bush land as we wound our way past the the historic cemetery of Tinonee and the small settlements of Bo Bo Creek, Hillville and Kundibakh. The road provided some interesting MX-5 corners as we finally arrived at Krambach Cafe. Although the early pioneers had originally planted the crops such as maize and wheat in the farms along the road these did not prove profitable and today the fields were dotted with cattle and dairy herds.

 

The Krambach Cafe is in a very picturesque setting  and we quickly took it over for what turned out to be a very congenial and prolonged morning tea and of course, chat. The original run plan was to proceeded to Nabiac and then onto the Lakes Way through Forster-Tuncurry and along the Lakes Way down to Buladelah. However due to the extended morning tea this would not be possible within the time time frame for our lunch booking. Instead we decided to go down the Pacific Highway turn off at the Wootton Way and go down to Buladelah the back way. The Wootton Way is considered by the club to be our ‘Nurbushring Road Circuit’ down to Buladelah and a very acceptable alternative to the original plan.

 

Leaving Krambach we took the Avalon and Wallanbah roads which provide a fairly straight and quick route to Nabiac to join up with the Pacific Highway. The drive from Nabiac was down to Coopernook, through the rolling  hills of Minimbah and it was interesting to see the regrowth following the extensive bushfires that had swept through this area.

 

The Wootton Way was once part of the old Pacific Highway between Buladelah and Taree was a notorious part of the journey north as it had few overtaking lanes and was a steep and windy road with tight slippery corners. It now is a tourist road with very little traffic and has become, even with the inevitable speed restrictions, an almost perfect MX-5 road with tight bends coupled with reasonably long straights linking the corners. Gear changing becomes an absolute pleasure and often just an excuse to listen to the reverberating sounds of the exhaust note off the rock faces.

 

The road alignment itself dates back to the mid 1800’s and the area is seeped in history with walking tracks and old railways for timber extraction set in the Buladelah state forest with an equally impressive countryside for those who may not appreciate the motoring side of the road! After an appropriate safety warning from run leader Keiran, we set off to enjoy the experience. All too soon we were gathering at the road’s end. However; when a drive is just so good, there is really only one option; and that is of course to do it all again in the opposite direction! There was a look of glee as we drove back up to the settlement of Wootton and then of course turned around and came back down again ready to go to lunch.

 

The lunch stop and run finish was at the Myalla Cafe in Bulahdelah’s main street where tables had been reserved for us. Soon we were munching away on good food and regaling each other with ‘tall tales but true’ driving experiences as one does! All in all it had been a most enjoyable day with good food, no rain, great driving through the historic mid-north coast and pleasant company. Photographs of the run taken by Wayne may be seen on the MX-5 Mid-North Coast’s web page.

 

Thanks go to the co-ordinators Keiran and Peter for the organisation, Keiran for leading and Wayne for taking the photographs and of course, many thanks to all the participants who made the day. Roll call; Keiran, Roby and Peter, Cathy and Wayne, Pam and Allen, Jane and Greg, Sheila, Chris and Mick, Stephen, Judith and John.

 

Scribe

 

John Hansen