High Tea Mystery
09 November 2016 / Words: Julie Farquhar. Pictures: Julie Farquhar & Brendan Barr
– an adventure that shouldn’t have been missed
One of the things that is nice about the Illawarra Chapter is that you can never be quite sure what adventure each run is going to produce. On some runs it is the run itself with its winding roads and great scenery that makes the trip worthwhile, while others it is the new places to explore with the run sort of “thrown in” as it were. Hella and Mark, with I believe the inspiration of Phil, led us on a mystery tour that captured the latter. We had a great run but the end was not only a surprise but gave us a beautiful part of the Illawarra that has been hidden for some years.
We all met at Mt Keira lookout and were thankful that we had something warm to wear as the midday air was quite fresh but the winds allowed us to see the Illawarra in all its splendour.
Then it was off on a curvy tour that took us north and then west in a maze of lanes and highways. Few of us knew where the mystery tour would end so it was rather like that game where you spin the child around and hope that blindfolded they can get to the wall to pin the tail on the donkey. We went forwards and backwards, through valleys and over crests, passing fields and houses with Hella keeping all 17 cars in a neat convoy.
Mark drove at a remarkably restrained pace but I think that was so no-one would become separated from the group… that or Hella had had a few words in his ear.
We arrived at… Robertson!!… and Hella gave us the last instructions … the mystery was about to be unfolded. A few metres out of Robertson we pulled up at The Castle – an elegant bed and breakfast residence – that welcomed us with open arms.
The garden was superb and the gravel driveway led to several older cars that had been brought out for the car fans to look at.
They included an E-Type Jag and a Charger (triple webers and 4 speed gearbox). I heard those words floating around and hopefully they mean something to someone… there were also two cats.
We then went inside to have a traditional English High Tea with quiche, meatballs, sandwiches, scones and an enormous number of sweet treats. Tea and coffee were served out of silver pots into bone china teacups. It was an ideal time to chat and catch up with friends. The Castle with its high ceilings housed a collection of antique furniture and fascinating memorabilia and was easily able to accommodate the 30 plus MX-5 Club members who arrived on their doorstep. The hosts showed us over The Castle after we listened to the story of the Little Blue Coupe played on a record player. Each room contained charming pieces of period furniture and the host captured our interests with his anecdotes about several of the items.
All in all, it was a great day and both the run and the High tea will be a talking point for a long time to come.
