Mount Seaview Run and lunch
15 January 2017 / Report and Photos by Wayne Lang
8:am, on an already stinking hot day, in fact the hottest day I've ever spent in an MX-5, Cath and I left Kempsey to meet up with an expected 15 or so keen participants at the Port Service Centre.
On arrival, we found Chris Clark who had traveled down from Coffs Harbour, already there, closely followed by Graham Rochester and Peter and Sandra Grob.
Cars started arriving at regular intervals, John and Judith Hansen were next, then Stephen and Liwan Hansen from the RPM Chapter Sydney, Peter and Jill McDonnell, Kevin Chappell, down from Armadale and eventually we had 13 people ready to brave the sweltering conditions.
Our first run for 2017 was to be a short blast up to Comboyne for morning tea at the "Bowerbird Cafe". We hooked into some nice cake and most of us ordered an iced coffee, which due to the heat was little more than room temperature coffee.
Following breakfast and a chat with friends, it was off again for the run down from Comboyne and then out to Mt. Seaview Resort for our lunch destination.
The heat by now was almost unbearable. Cath and I tried to cope with the elements by keeping the roof down, but I was very nearly tempted to pull over and put it up. The air conditioning was nonexistent and the cabin felt like it was at least 45 degrees.
Upon reaching Mt. Seaview, we realized that there was no air conditioning inside the restaurant either. Oh great!!!
We had the staff constantly suppling us with ice, but their effort was in vein, because as soon as the ice hit the water or cold drink it was gone. The glasses were warm to the touch and the only respite were two ceiling fans which were virtually on their last legs.
Still, the company was good and the food wasn't bad either. An hour or so passed and it was decided to take a quick run up to Ginger's Creek for a drive.
As we left the restaurant we were met by Mark Wilson and Jodie Carty who had been delayed for personal reasons. They were in Marks highly modified NA, which none of us had seen up 'til that point.
I couldn't have thought in my wildest dreams that it could be even hotter than it had been earlier. How wrong was I? After leaving Mt. Seaview, we only traveled a short distance before we were caught behind a bloody truck doing about 20kph up the grade.
My patience with this lasted about 2 minutes, when I overtook to see if there was any clear road ahead. After a kilometer or so, I radioed to the others that all was clear.
Mark Wilson was the only one that took me up on my offer of no oncoming traffic. So, we had a brisk run through the twisties, before reaching Ginger's.
More chat and a few laughs over something cold, then bidding our farewells to Chris and Kevin who were heading further west for the long trip home. As for the rest of us, it was back into our little cars for our return trip eastward.
There were some lightning strikes and some heavy wind on the way back, followed by some medium weight rain, but this I can only assume, was welcomed by all considering it brought the temperature down to an almost human level.
Anyhow, that's our first run out of the way for 2017. We now eagerly await our next. I just hope it's a lot cooler than the one we experienced today.
