Dorrigo Weekend March 2018
31 March 2018
MX5 Club Mid North Coast Trip 24 & 25 March 2018
Woke up to a dreary cloudy Saturday morning after a week of drenching rain and some of us thinking that the weekend trip would be cancelled. However, as we all gathered at “the Donut” – Port Macquarie Service Centre – blue skies appeared at last and we all agreed to set off. We being Peter and Jill, Sally and Warren, Pam and Allen on their first MX5 run, Brett and Carla with their “newly washed” red MX5, Peter and Robyj, and the grandparents of a new little grandson, Wayne and Cathy. Graham checked that we were all ready to go and we would meet up with him again at Dorrigo. We set off at 8.45 with Peter and Jill in the lead heading west on the Oxley Highway, negotiating the roundabout, the shoppers and pedestrians in Wauchope and regrouping at the currently being renovated Bago Tavern. As we passed Timbertown we observed that there is a new restaurant there, called Coopers. Out of Wauchope heading along the highway as the weather kept improving and coming up to our first slow down, horse trailer heading into Long Flat. After all the rain the hills are beautiful and green, with some low cloud cover but so picturesque. The next part of the highway to Ginger’s Café is the windiest and there is a large warning sign at the beginning warning of 44kms of windy road. There was lots of subsidence, rocks, branches and debris on the road and on the cliffsides. It was a great drive up the mountain and we didn’t get stuck behind any slow vehicles all the way up and at 10.10, it was time for morning tea at Ginger’s. The sunshine broke through at last as we all enjoyed coffees, tea, sandies, hot chocolate, Anzac biscuits and a marshmallow for one of the chickens under the balcony on the lawn. One thing we also noticed during the climb is that a number of new “Help phones” have been installed. Because it is also a popular run most weekends for motor cyclists as well, this is an additional appreciated safety feature for everyone. We continued on through beautiful countryside to the Apsley Falls. There hadn’t been as much rain here as near the coast but the falls were still looking spectacular. A few of us descended the steep stairs for the lower down view, but it’s the climb back up that stops some of us. Worth doing though. As we drove away there was an unavoidable carcass on the road and unfortunately the lead car, Peter and Jill, couldn’t swerve to miss it. What a calamity, very bad smell and other people making very corny dead animal comments and jokes! As we drove through Walcha happy memories of previous trips here came back to us. Particularly Mike Walkden-Brown’s Valentine’s Day trip a couple of years ago. Past Walcha and driving on to Uralla the countryside became very dry in comparison. When we arrived at Uralla they were holding a Food Festival. The pubs and cafes were full and the streets were crowded. Instead of being all together for lunch some of us went to “The Alternate Root” café and some of us went to Subway. We figured you have to be flexible sometimes, particularly if you haven’t prebooked a table. We met Kevin and Jenny here, regrouped and set off down Kleindienst Road to take the back roads that Kevin is familiar with. Just a few of the roads we took included the intersection of Pinegrove, Bundarra & Dumaresq Roads, Old Inverell Road and Boorolong Road. We stopped at Armidale so that Peter could take the lead again and headed up the New England Highway towards Guyra We stopped at the Black Mountain Roadhouse so that some of us could refuel and wondered about the daily special Rosie’s Chicken Garlic Balls with chips and gravy for $10, but decided to give it a miss. Kevin is leading us again to the falls. Through Guyra, past the “Big Lamb” turning right towards Ebor. Passed the road signs to “ Backwater” and “Ward’s Mistake” and wondered about the origins of these place names. Along the way we left the sunshine behind and came upon dark black rain clouds which forced some of us to stop and put our roofs up and some of us just drove straight through. After a long stretch of road and the end of the rain shower also glimpsed a sign to “ Wongwibinda” an Aboriginal word meaning “stay a long time”, if only we could. We regrouped at the Ebor Falls which were flowing magnificently both at the lower and upper falls. We caught a glimpse of a beautiful rainbow effect on the spray at the lower falls and the views across the to the hills and mountains from the upper falls. We then set off on the scenic drive to Dorrigo. We all booked in to our rooms at the Heritage Hotel Motel upstairs in the old hotel. Built in 1925 by Michael Feros, this grand hotel is heritage listed and is still owned by the Feros family. It is a classic example of Australian hotel architecture of the 1920s. Well, time now for relaxation, a few drinks, dinner and convivial conversation – don’t know what happened to the promised ukulele performance by Wayne, though. Maybe another time! Next morning we were all up bright and earlyish for breakfast. Congratulations all round to Wayne and Cathy for their 40th wedding anniversary and the gorgeous ruby and gold ring Wayne has given to Cathy. Graham met up with us on this crisp, sunny morning and we said good-bye to Wayne and Cathy, going to Coffs for a prawns and champagne celebration. Graham drove us to the Dorrigo Sky Walk which has magnificent views over the valley and to the coast. It was a bit hazy so we couldn’t see right to the coast. We said goodbye to Brett and Carla, to Peter and Robbyj who were heading off and we won’t be seeing Peter for around 12 months. He and son Kieran are doing the driving trip of a lifetime and setting off tomorrow (26 March). We wish them both a wonderful and memorable time. We then took the scenic drive from Dorrigo to Bellingen As we crossed over the river bridge wondered why it is called the Bellinger River. Apparently, the Gumbaynggir Aboriginal name for river, "Bellingen" means "clean water", "winding river", "quoll" and "cheeky fellow". The story goes that a draughtsman who was compiling the Colony map from original documents misread the final handwritten "n" as an "r"; meaning that the Bellingen River officially became the "Bellinger", while the town retained the correct name of "Bellingen”. The rest of us – Graham, Pam and Allen, Kevin and Jenny and Jill and Peter, (car still a bit smelly) stopped at the “Old Butter Factory” for morning tea. The place was unexpectedly full of people but we managed to get a table and enjoyed coffees and baked delights before farewelling each other and looking forward to our next Mid North Coast trip.
Copy, Jill McDonnell
Photo, Graham Rochester
Wayne's Facebook photos, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2159010244116142&type=3
