Autumn Leaves Foodies Run
30 September 2022 / Words: Peter Rodgers and Roby Leckenby Photos: Wayne and Cathy Lang
The run was due to officially begin with lunch at the Tattersalls Hotel in Armidale, though unofficially it began earlier in both Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. Our Coff’s contingent of John, Jennene, Robert and Rhonda in their NC’s headed to Armidale via Dorrigo and the Waterfall Way.
As usual the Port Macquarie contingent met outside Olivers at the Donut. Jill and Peter in MX5 1, Wayne and Cath in their NB, Trish, David, Allen, Jane, Greg, Roby and Peter, all in ND’s.
The plan was to drive the Oxley to Ginger’s Creek for morning tea, however we were surprised and almost caught short to find Ginger’s apparently permanently closed. This required a recalibration of the bathroom stop, which then became Apsley Falls, fortunately with no adverse circumstances apart from a few suffering from coffee deprivation.
Then it was off to the Tattersall’s for lunch and meeting up with Kevin and Jenny in their 30th Anniversary ND. At this stage a huge thank you to Kev and Jen for organising the weekend.
After lunch it was check-in time before a relatively short drive around Armidale to view the autumn colours, and they were spectacular, even in the rain with our hoods up. Somehow a few of us managed to lose Kevin, our run leader (I’ll blame my faulty CB radio). I led us on a merry drive around Armidale, ending up at Woolworth’s servo, arriving back at the hotel for a rest before meeting at the council’s undercover car park, for which Kevin managed to obtain the key. Clearly this man has contacts in the right places as evidenced by his ability to arrange for the Café Patisserie, the best restaurant in Armidale to open exclusively for us.
As for the dinner, it certainly was not the Weight Watcher’s Special, with multiple courses of some of the best food many of us had ever eaten. I lost track of what we ate and the number of courses, perhaps the champagne had something to do with that!
Most of us declined breakfast, though others decided to partake prior to home-made scones and other yummies for morning tea in Guyra. Before morning tea, we had the opportunity to visit a private motor museum in Guyra, which is run in conjunction with the local car club. The owners of the building, which in times past was the local Holden Dealership had only recently moved to town and are in the process of restoring the building and adding to the car collection.
Back in our cars, with the roofs down on this beautiful sunny, though cold day we drove to Ben Lomond Village, the location of the now closed but once the highest railway station in Australia. Kevin gave us an interesting history lesson including the plan to convert the now disused railway line from Armidale into an extensive bicycle path.
Lunchtime was approaching, so it was time to drive back to Armidale via Black Mountain Village to the Great Hops Brewery with 57 varieties of beer on tap. Actually, I’m exaggerating but there was a set of four testers available for those who wanted beer with their lunch.
Our final drive for the day was to visit the Church of All Saints at Gostwyck, now privately owned and where John was originally married (but not to Jennene). Then back to Armidale and the secure lock up for our cars, before a pre-dinner break.
Once again Kevin excelled when it came to dinner, this time in a private room at the White Bull Hotel. Of course, the meal was excellent, and we all went to bed feeling very well fed once more.
Monday it was time to head home after a complementary breakfast at the hotel. Kevin and Jen kindly invited us to their home for a superb morning tea and of course to drool over Kev’s car collection. Thank you again Kev and Jen for a fabulous weekend.
This time everyone had to drive home via the Waterfall Way and Dorrigo as the Oxley will be closed during the week for the next three or four months. Whilst this is a beautiful drive, the condition of the road is sub-par with huge potholes, some of which are just unavoidable with two-way traffic. Sadly, we hit a huge one and bent our front right hand rim, which will put the ND off the road until a repair or replacement is arranged. Fortunately, we have a spare MX-5, the Heritage, which will do service for a while.
