Story: Karen Bradshaw
Ian and I decided to make a weekend of our trip to Wangaratta for the North-Eastern Victoria Chapter run to Bright on Sunday.
We left Friday afternoon and had a good trip up to Wangaratta – with the roof up as it was pretty cool. We filled in Saturday resting up for a big Sunday but we did take advantage of a beautiful cloudless day to venture out to the Warby Ranges for a short squirt and to check out Ryan’s lookout.
Then Ian had to wash the car of course as we couldn’t turn up with a dirty car on Sunday morning!
We met up with the North-eastern Victorian group at 9am Sunday and were introduced to new members, Brian and Maree. After some catching-up chatter, Ron presented Gerry and Stuart with their Assistant Chapter Captain Badges and Gerry with his Chapter Champion Award (again).
At 9.30am on a bright sunny morning eight little MX-5s – with every roof down – made a quick burst to Milawa for morning coffee and more catching up and storytelling. What was that about speeding tickets, Tyrone? Some of us even made a start on the Christmas shopping.
After we stocked up on Ian’s favourite Bengal Relish (a nice spicy relish) we headed off towards Myrtleford in glorious sunshine and Tyrone didn’t get misplaced this time! A beautiful early spring day and the roofs down. What a difference from a couple of weeks ago when we had thick fog for our Beechworth weekend!
We waited down the track a bit for the convoy to regroup. Together once again, we went to leave only to get a couple of interlopers in our smart little convoy. So it was a right turn into Myrtleford and on to the Great Alpine Road and another quick stop to regroup and lose the interlopers. Then it was into Ovens where we turned off towards Mt Beauty – great snow-peaked mountain views (Happy Valley Tourist Drive). On our left were very large pine plantations with some mountains bare from harvest.
Then it was up and down and around mountains with non-stop MX-5 corners and magnificent views of the valley below. We pulled over for a regroup of the convoy … our esteemed leader has a bit of a lead foot (and it wasn’t Mr Bradshaw’s). Then when we were all together … but where was Marg? – off taking photos of the snow peaks!
We turned right on to Kiewa Valley Highway – just wonderful to hear the hum of the MX-5s travelling along great roads. We stopped at a lookout and took photos of Mt Bogong with snow on it – learning that Mt Bogong is the highest mountain in Victoria … so not only are the North-Eastern Victoria runs enjoyable, they are educational, says a boasting Ron.
Then it was off up the mountains again to Tawonga Gap with Tyrone almost leaving Pam behind. Up the mountain and no time to look at the views with lots of corners – whoops, Ian, where did the back of the car go?
In no time at all we are at Tawonga Gap Lookout for a group photo. Off we head with we Bradshaws in the lead – what a great run down we had until we caught up with “slow” cars. We stopped at Germantown Bridge to regroup, then with Ron and Marg in the lead again it was off into Bright for a delicious lunch at the Alpine Hotel and of course some more yack and chat.
We had a half hour to wander around Bright before we met up to say goodbye and head home. Some headed off to Beechworth for coffee whilst Ian and I headed back to Ballarat and home.
What a great weekend we had – of course it helps that the MX-5s are such a great car and the owners are great people too.
Thank you to Ron and Marg and the North-Eastern Victoria Chapter members for a great run and a great day.
