Chocolate for two

08 August 2023 / CW

A Chocolate Taste for Two

Something a bit different was in the air as RPM met at one of our favourite start points. The plan to travel some eighty kilometres of great MX-5 roads and meet up with Hunter Chapter for a tour of the Gosford Chocolate Factory and then head off for lunch together seemed a little adventurous. Being adventurous is what an MX-5 is for, so why not.

John Purcell from Hunter and I spent some time on Google Maps focusing on meeting at Calga and came up with a “close enough” so the adventure was locked in.

Ideal weather for top-down driving took us up through some of RPM’s most driven Hawkesbury routes and up to the Old Northern Road but instead of heading for the ferries we opted for the Galston Gorge. Friday mid-morning has got to be the best time for the Gorge as there were no cyclists and very little traffic, it is rare to get twelve cars in a row and even more so on such a fantastic driver’s road. A dream run.

Expecting hold ups through the towns, we arranged a meeting point near the old toll booths but within a few minutes we were all twelve together and on our way along that great section toward the Pie In The Sky. The Mobile Speed Trap on the sixty K section was an item for discussion but we made it to PITS for our comfort stop, fine free.

As usual, as soon as we get a group of our members together a talk fest starts but a quick round up saw us leaving on time towards Calga the first section down to the river is eighty K but from there the limit is sixty and it is so hard to keep the speed down on such driving roads.

Getting to Calga and pulling over to wait, we hear John on the radio asking us to keep going because they were right behind us. Was that luck or good management?

An interesting and informative tour of the Chocolate factory broke thirty-seven of us into smaller groups giving time for others to browse and buy from the wide range chocolate and nougat. I am sure some of the cars were sitting lower on the way to Lunch.

Gosford RSL saved us forty-five seats at their bistro which we almost filled as we spread out and mixed for great company enjoying fun conversation with enjoyable food. Let’s hope we can do something like this again soon.

To see Rob Wilko’s photos and run look here. https://www.relive.cc/view/vPv4RPYNM36

I want to thank John Purcell and his whole Hunter team for their help and support in the success of this run.