Scenic Saints Sunday

27 February 2017 / Article: Jen Boyko Photos: Phil Mayo

Our congregation of devotees assembled at Morissett MacDonalds for a coffee and chat and to greet our first time attendees and visitors before our briefing for the journey ahead.

Twenty MX-5 cars, 35 members, 2 visitors and an SUV headed off with overcast skies and optimistic tops down. Avoiding the M1 motorway, we took some more interesting roads past farmlands and taking in the sweet notes of angelic bellbirds. Fortunately the heavens decided to not open up and allowed the sun to peep out from behind the teasing clouds just before our shared BYO morning tea stop at Peats Ridge Village where we were joined by another member from the Central Coast. 

With the sun deciding to be shy again and with optimism still flowing and tops still down, we headed down Wiseman’s Ferry Road admiring the lush green countryside, market gardens and contented cows and horses grazing in the pastures. This cruisy road, injected with many twists and turns through some native bushlands made for a pleasant ‘Sunday drive’. As we cruised alongside the meandering picturesque Hawkesbury River, dotted with the occasional boat, we had the opportunity to admire several (read lots) of Porsche devotees heading north. One surprise ‘devotee’ smiled and waved at us in the tiny village of Spencer. Good morning Jean Cook! Now we know what she does when she’s not on an MX-5 run….

We then entered the boundaries of the Dharug National Park and onto the Wisemans Ferry (they need a bigger boat) where most of our convoy waited to regroup at the Convict Road park for the second ferry load of MX-5’s to arrive. Our challenge then was to get everyone onto the Webb’s Creek Ferry (they also need a bigger boat) especially when, right on cue – RPM joined the queue having come up from River Road. Excitement and lots of waving ensued. It wasn’t long before we reached our destination of Settler’s Arms Inn for lunch in the hotel gardens where RPM & Sydney again graced us with their presence. Hallelujah! This is what MX-5 Club NSW is all about. Our lunchtime entertainment was by the duo, Love Bucket.

The Settlers Arms Inn was established in 1836 and is built from convict-hewn sandstone. It nestles alongside the Macdonald River in the village of St. Albans. The hotel became a stopover for Cobb & Co. stagecoaches travelling between Sydney and Newcastle in the nineteen century.

Our run officially ended here with some members finding their own way home; however the majority opted for an optional run home via Galston Gorge and a quick dart up the M1 back to Newcastle.

Thank you to Hunter and RPM & Sydney attendees for making this such a great day.

Thank heaven (and Mazda) for MX-5’s.

 

More of Phils photos: HERE

More of Davids photos: HERE