Story: Bruce Harvey
Ominous black clouds were approaching from the south-west as we enjoyed a coffee and waited for the last of the convoy to arrive at the designated meeting point alongside the Meander River in Deloraine.
A couple of the members had been around the local car dealerships and had test driven both the Subaru BRZ and the Toyota 86 GTS. The feeling was the Subaru was the better car but there were no doubts the MX-5 was still the best value available.
With the clouds getting closer a quick briefing and we zoomed away to do some driving. As the name of the run implies we were never going to venture far from Deloraine and the morning section took us out through Weetah, Parkham and then to Elizabeth Town. Here we turned to Moltema, on to Kimberley through Weegena where we did catch up with the rain for a short time.
The shower was thankfully short and by the time we reached Dunorlan and Red Hills it had passed over and we could actually enjoy sun and blue skies.
Crossing the B12 we headed towards and then through Montana, pausing to regroup at the Golden Valley intersection. Keeping with the theme of the day – which was only to travel on the best MX-5 roads in the area – the next section took us through Quamby Brook, Osmaston and eventually Exton. From Exton the road to Reedy Marsh would lead us back to Deloraine completing the mornings circle and our lunch break at the “Cruzin’ in the ’50s Diner”.
Undoubtedly the Diner is the best example of its kind in Australia and probably puts a lot of US examples to shame. The menu has all the traditional ’50s fare, burgers, fries, ice cream, sodas, spiders and milkshakes and we all had a great lunch served by the happy smiling staff.
After lunch it was my privilege to make a couple of award presentations to Kelly Berggren – one, the Northern Tasmania Chapter Champion award to acknowledge the part she has played at Chapter level, the other the mxtra prize for her contributions to our Club magazine over the year.
Formalities over and the sun shining strongly, we headed out for some more of the great roads. The destination for the afternoon was up towards the Great Lake, not only for the road but also for the photo opportunities in the late afternoon sun. The road climbs quite steeply with numerous hair-pin corners interspersed with flowing left and right handers … it was MX-5 heaven until it started snowing.
Fortunately we had nearly reached the top and had been able to enjoy the road immensely to this point. The aforementioned sun was completely obscured by the snow clouds, the wind chill meant the temperature was probably equivalent to about -20° and the white line was getting wider and wider.
As no-one had the foresight to bring chains, the decision was made very quickly to turn around and head back down the mountain to Westbury and the famous Andy’s Bakery and coffee shop where the days run ended ironically in the warmth of the late afternoon sun. n Ominous black clouds were approaching from the Southwest as we enjoyed a coffee and waited for the last of the convoy to arrive at the designated meeting point alongside the Meander River in Deloraine.
A couple of the members had been around the local car dealerships and had test driven both the Subaru BRZ and the Toyota 86 GTS. The feeling was the Subaru was the better car but there were no doubts the MX-5 was still the best value available.
With the clouds getting closer a quick briefing and we zoomed away to do some driving. As the name of the run implies we were never going to venture far from Deloraine and the morning section took us out through Weetah, Parkham and then to Elizabeth Town. Here we turned to Moltema, on to Kimberley through Weegena where we did catch up with the rain for a short time.
The shower was thankfully short and by the time we reached Dunorlan and Red Hills it had passed over and we could actually enjoy sun and blue skies.
Crossing the B12 we headed towards and then through Montana, pausing to regroup at the Golden Valley intersection. Keeping with the theme of the day – which was only to travel on the best MX-5 roads in the area – the next section took us through Quamby Brook, Osmaston and eventually Exton. From Exton the road to Reedy Marsh would lead us back to Deloraine completing the mornings circle and our lunch break at the “Cruzin’ in the ’50s Diner”.
Undoubtedly the Diner is the best example of its kind in Australia and probably puts a lot of US examples to shame. The menu has all the traditional ’50s fare, burgers, fries, ice cream, sodas, spiders and milkshakes and we all had a great lunch served by the happy smiling staff.
After lunch it was my privilege to make a couple of award presentations to Kelly Berggren – one, the Northern Tasmania Chapter Champion award to acknowledge the part she has played at Chapter level, the other the mxtra prize for her contributions to our Club magazine over the year.
Formalities over and the sun shining strongly, we headed out for some more of the great roads. The destination for the afternoon was up towards the Great Lake, not only for the road but also for the photo opportunities in the late afternoon sun. The road climbs quite steeply with numerous hair-pin corners interspersed with flowing left and right handers … it was MX-5 heaven until it started snowing.
Fortunately we had nearly reached the top and had been able to enjoy the road immensely to this point. The aforementioned sun was completely obscured by the snow clouds, the wind chill meant the temperature was probably equivalent to about -20° and the white line was getting wider and wider.
As no one had the foresight to bring chains, the decision was made very quickly to turn around and head back down the mountain to Westbury and the famous Andy’s Bakery and coffee shop where the days run ended ironically in the warmth of the late afternoon sun.
