Words: Craig Dixon Photos: Craig Dixon, Julie Neal, June Teeuw Organiser: Bryan Holman
Apart from the rain, this was a great day out … except for the rain. Oh, did I mention the rain?
Arriving at Beasley’s Nursery in Warrandyte, there was already one other MX-5 in the car park. Quickly moving inside under umbrellas to get a much-needed coffee after driving down from Mansfield, we met new members Stephen and Mary Dirs.
We thought our 165km prior to the start was pretty good, but Stephen and Mary blew us away when they said they were over from London! I suppose they were hoping for ‘a nice drive with the top down in the colonies’, but unfortunately we couldn’t turn the weather on for them. The rain was well settled in and hung around most of the day.
After the usual banter, Bryan gave us our briefing, focussing in on the weather and the need to take some extra care. With nobody seeming remotely interested in dropping their roof, we were soon on our way – us with some plants that Julie had managed to buy before we left.
We had barely left the car park and were confronted with roadworks and a traffic controller managing the flow. With 15 cars, the odds on all getting through together were not good, and we had to regroup again shortly after. On through Warrandyte township, over the bridge on to the Kangaroo Ground-Warrandyte Road, then on to the Eltham-Yarra Glen Road.
If the weather had allowed much visibility, we could have all enjoyed the scenery as we took a ‘relaxed’ trip through Christmas Hills behind a slow-moving truck (below). Jan pointed out (over the radio) that there was a lovely view over Yarra Glen to our right, and that we would have certainly enjoyed it if we could have seen it.
There was some debate over the radio as to whether we should stop at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for our rest stop, but we are a strong-willed bunch and pushed on to Coronation Park in Healesville. Our waistlines are ever-grateful. It was then decided that, due to the weather, we would cut the trip short and head for lunch at Warran Glen Nursery back in Warrandyte.
A bit further on, the weather did clear a little for a while, and it was very nice to see some green returning to the hills after the recent (and current!) rain.
Arriving for lunch at 12.30, we had a very relaxed, and excellent, lunch and the usual friendly banter. Everyone then made their way home. Julie had managed to find some more plants on special at Warran Glen and our boot now looked like a mobile greenhouse.
Even with the weather not playing the game, it was still a terrific day out, with good company and another well organised run.
More photos of the run can be found here.
