Byabarra via Gingers Creek
19 November 2018 / Story by Jill McDonnell
A warm clear Saturday morning greeted us as we all gathered at “the Donut” – the Port Macquarie Service Centre. Our group included Peter and Jill leading the run, Pam and Allen in their clean bright and shiny red MX-5, Peter, back from his amazing round Australia trip with his son Kieran, and Robyj, Kieran and Katie in Kieran’s Suzuki, Wayne and Cathy and Graham in his blue BMW. We set off at around 10.05 with Peter and Jill in the lead following the traffic on the Oxley Highway, past the roadworks at the Sancrox turnoff, through the bend at the Wauchope railway crossing, negotiating the roundabout, and noticing the bright and colourful Christmas display in The Department Store window. We regrouped near Timbertown and headed out of Wauchope along the highway and past the roadworks at Yippin Creek, ostensibly to provide a new bridge and to reduce the number of bends and corners in that area.
We drove past Huntingdon Public School which celebrated its 150th anniversary in September 2018. – such a pretty small country school environment for the current 53 students. On through the forest and then the first twisting climb to Long Flat. Apparently the population of the district including the localities of Kindee, Toms Creek, Ellenborough and Birdwood is around 300 people.
Then over Rushers Creek with our roofs down and appreciating the beautiful green hills, some fairly large clouds in the distance and blue skies. Manoeuvring past a couple of slow vehicles before the Mount Seaview Resort gateway. Then we were off following the twists and corners along the road through the Cotton-Bimbang National Park with its history of colonial settlers, gold and bushrangers. There are also Aboriginal tracks and the largest population of parma wallabies. The clouds seemed to increase and the air cooled a little but we didn’t get stuck behind any slow vehicles all the way up. and with the sounds of the bellbirds in our ears, we arrived at Gingers Café. around 11am.
After a brief morning tea and keeping in mind our booking at the Byabarra Café for 12.30pm we headed back down again. Keeping an eye on the time and managing to pass several slow vehicles three cars came to the Comboyne turnoff at around 12.45. In the meantime John and Judith, who had gone directly to the café, were wondering where we all were and gave us a quick call to find out. We let them know we were nearly there. After a bit of concern for Wayne and Cathy when their car wouldn’t start, we waved goodbye to Graham and all headed up to Byabarra which is an aboriginal word meaning ‘sleepy hollow’, and so appropriate. With a population of around 320 the café is nestled on the Comboyne Road. The balcony where we sat overlooks the Quintoc ranges and green rolling slopes of the hills. You can enjoy a stroll down to the Thone River, via the citrus orchard but we were quite happy to sit, enjoy each other’s company and peruse the wonderful menu. Peter and Robj started us off with a recounting a funny little incident they encountered with a young woman parked on the side of the road by her little blue car. Unfortunately, we probably can’t give away too many details about it – but we all had a good laugh!
What a wonderful afternoon we had listening to, and singing along with Pure Acoustic. He played so many great classic rock tunes and we requested some of our favourites - just great music! After a delicious lunch the owners spoiled us with complimentary slices of cakes and cream. So at 3pm as we left to drive home a happy and cheerful bunch of MX-5 Club members agreed that the Byabarra Café and Bar is once again one of our favourite local places.
An email sent to Peter and Jill McDonnell:
Thanks to you and Jill for organising a great run
It was one of our best
Regards
Pam and Allen
