Christmas in July
28 July 2015 / Kerri Langworthy-Ward
Christmas in July – Sydney Chapter - Menangle House Horse & Jockey Inn
The irony of having Christmas in July wasn’t lost on our mini convoy as we headed off for a Christmas in July on the warmest day we’ve had this winter. ‘Well I guess it beats the brass Monkey black ice postponement of the fortnight before’ I thought to myself.
From Sydney there are a myriad of fun ways to get to Menangle. From a sensible but unchallenging M2/M7 freeway run through to the thrill of either the A9 via Luddenham, Bringelli and Narellan or even longer but more exhilarating scenic run through Wallacia, Warragamba route through to Picton.
Menangle itself is a pretty ‘hamlet’ near the birthplace of farming in the Campbelltown region of Sydney. The original owners of the land, the Tharwal people, named it Menangle meaning ‘place of swamps’. This swamps reference rang true where some of us chose the deceptively soft off-road route to the car park through a wet paddock. A couple of witches hats and we could have had a great gymkhana.
One of the best things about getting together with a load of enthusiastic MX-5 club people is the diversity of people our super sports cars attract. The stock standard aficionados were there early, sensibly lined up and polished. Yep they didn’t park anywhere near the slush in the paddock. Sensible jackets and Mazda monogrammed caps adorning their armoralled seats. Club racers were there with roofs off, roll cages and cockpits full and customisations so radical that entire new friendships were established on the day by way of mutual admiration of go-faster bits.
The food was traditional pub fare, the banter was lively and entertaining as they are at all club events.
Always keen to engage with new people, I asked one guy what made him buy his MX-5, his wife leaned across and smiled ‘midlife crisis’. He replied, ‘because I didn’t have one’. Well that’s as good a reason as any I thought.
Eavesdropping on the racing club guys I noticed they were pouring over a catalogue. Hmm, new ND? Nope, one of them had bought a new stereo and the others were fawning over the huge GPS screen, bluetooth gagety integration stuff. I suspect the enormous screen was because it was easier to see directions if you cant hear them above your exhaust note.
Santa didn’t make an appearance but hey, I figured we still have half a year to impress.
