A Day Out to Timboon & Port Campbell with the MX-5 Club

To cater for the interests of its members outside of Melbourne, the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria has two regional groups: the Ballarat & Western District Chapter and the North-eastern Victoria Chapter. Today we joined the Ballarat & Western District Chapter on their run to Timboon and Port Campbell.

With the meeting time of 9.15 am outside Sebastopol Secondary College, an early start was required. So under overcast skies that were threatening drizzle, we left home at 7.15 and headed off with the top up to the Ring Road. The traffic was quite light at that time of the morning so we had no trouble picking our way through all the road works that now stretch from Sydney Road to the Western Highway interchange. If the Ring Road was quiet, the Western Highway was even quieter. We arrived on the outskirts of Ballarat with plenty of time and that let us top up with petrol (Ballarat prices hadn't jumped up when they did in Melbourne), some supplies from Baker's Delight and a warming hot chocolate from that place I love to hate, McDonalds.

Eventually all the starters drifted in making a nice little line-up of 8 MX-5's outside the school. It was a typically brisk Ballarat morning so when we set off, only one brave soul have put their top down (surprisingly, it wasn't us). We headed west along the Glenelg Highway to Scarsdale where we turned south. Onwards through Cape Clear, across the Woady Yaloak River at Pitfield and then onto the Lismore road to our first destination, the Wallinduc CFA shed to meet up with 2 more MX-5's. Although it was still very overcast, it had warmed up enough for most of us to put their tops down. Of course those with their removable hard-tops on their NB model MX-5's couldn't unless they were prepared to leave them behind because their hard-tops don't fold away like they do on the NC model that we have.

The line-up of MX-5's at Wallinduc CFA

(ours is in the back row beside the shed)

After some morning tea, the convoy of 10 took off heading south on the Berrybank road. We crossed over the Hamilton Highway and the Adelaide rail line at Berrybank and continued south to Foxhow where we then turned south-west towards Camperdown. After passing between Lake Gnarpurt on our right and Lake Corangamite on our left, we turned left onto the Leslie Manor Road and then right onto the Pomborneit-Foxhow Road to head down between the dry-stone paddock walls to the Princes Highway at Pomborneit. Here was our meeting point for the 4 cars that had come straight out from Geelong. We could have gone straight there instead of going to Ballarat but by starting at Ballarat we got to drive through areas where we haven't been before.

Now a convoy of 14, we headed west along the Princes Highway to Weerite where we turned off to take a drive around Lake Purrumbete. We returned to the highway and headed towards Camperdown. On the edge of town, we took the road to the Mt Leura Lookout. Perched on the top of an extinct volcano, the views are fantastic and are well worth the short detour. Fourteen MX-5's filling the car park looked pretty good too...

Fourteen MX-5's fill the Mt Leura Lookout car park

After a brief look around, we vacated the car park and wound our way down the hill. Cutting though the back streets of Camperdown, we made our way to the Cobden road and turned south and on to Lake Bullen Merri nearby for a toilet stop. We arrived to find a triathlon in its finishing stage and quite a few of us took the opportunity to buy a sausage or a hamburger from the Lions Club stall. We didn't get to see Camperdown so the town will have to wait for another day.

After that brief stop, it was back to the Cobden road to continue south. We skirted the edge of Cobden, leaving town by the Port Campbell road. At Scotts Creek we turned onto the Timboon road to head into there for lunch. We stopped at a park on the site of the closed railway branch line from Camperdown. It is one of the few now-closed lines that I could have travelled on but didn't because I didn't take the opportunity when I had it. No point worrying about that now but it does prove that you shouldn't let opportunities pass you by because there may not be "a next time".

Except for the mozzies, the company at lunch was very pleasant. As we were now running nearly an hour late, we didn't stay long in Timboon and headed off to Port Campbell for an ice-cream stop. My choice was Lime & Coconut - an interesting and very different flavour. We had time for a quick look around the town before heading east along the Great Ocean Road. We didn't stop for the remaining 8 or 9 Twelve Apostles, partly because we didn't have time but also you wouldn't really want to because of the crowds. Definitely a place for a mid-week visit.

The roads from Camperdown onwards had been really great MX-5 roads and now they were getting even better. We were fortunate with the traffic on the Great Ocean Road and most of us got a good run with no one holding us up. At Lavers Hill, the Great Ocean Road turns right but we kept going straight ahead to Beech Forest. After passing through Beech Forest, we plunged into the forest on an incredible piece of road. With a flora and fauna reserve on one side of us and state forest on the other, we twisted our way through the tall timbers and tree ferns. Described in the run notes as "all corners and no straight parts for approx. 12 km", this is a perfect piece of MX-5 road. The 20 km/h speed limit over the first half was a bit of a joke (probably there because of the timber trucks that we didn't see) but the 40km/h speed limit for the rest of it wasn't too far from the mark (well, maybe it was a bit slow for MX-5's). A truly spectacular piece of road and definitely worth the journey.

All good things come to an end and, in this case, the end was the Forrest - Apollo Bay road. Here we turned left and headed into Forrest for an afternoon tea stop. It was getting late so we said farewell and left in a convoy of 2 with one of the Geelong cars. We made our way through Barwon Downs and onto Cape Otway Road. We cut up to join the Princes Highway at Winchelsea where it became a straight forward run home. With Geelong now bypassed and the Ring Road to get us around Melbourne, visiting the south west of Victoria is easily done.

All up, the day was 11 hours and 635 km long. A big day out and great one. The Ballarat & Western District Chapter of the MX-5 Club are a great group of people and we looking forward to going with them again one day.

MX-5 Club's President's Run to Donna Buang

Mazda MX-5's are a special car and so it is not surprising that there is an owner's club. We joined the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria at the beginning of the year and today we went on the our first outing with them. The idea of driving around in a convoy of MX-5's didn't necessarily appeal but the prospect of opening up a new social circle meant that it was worth a try.

Today's run was the annual President's Run and the destination was Donna Buang. The starting point was the car park of the Manningham Council offices in Doncaster. By kick off time there were 42 MX-5's of various models and colours. It was a lovely sunny day so "tops down" was most definitely the only way to go. Off we went down Doncaster Road to Blackburn Road and then into Andersons Creek Road. Not surprisingly, with all the traffic lights we were now starting to get rather spread out. The obvious challenge with planning a run is to choose a big enough, easily found car park on the edge of Melbourne - Manningham Council wasn't the best choice...

Anyway, back to the drive. We made our way to Warrandyte, over the Yarra River and on towards Kangaroo Ground. Somehow a group of about 10 cars managed to get in front of the lead car. We were second car in our pack and when the leading car was looking rather lost at Kangaroo Ground trying to get to the Yarra Glen Road, we took over. After all we were in our "own backyard" and I didn't need map to tell me how to get there.

One of the "rules" of driving in convoy is to wait when we make turns to make sure the car following has made the turn too. Thinking we were still some way behind to car in front, we set off towards Yarra Glen in order to catch up. After a while I began to suspect that we had somehow got in front so a call to the President was in order. "I think we have got in front of you" I said ... "No, that couldn't have happened" ... "Are you sure?" I said ... "Yes, where are you?" ... "A fair way along the Eltham - Yarra Glen Road" I said ... "So are we, you must be behind us" ... and then the phone dropped out. Not convinced, we kept on towards Yarra Glen, mostly because there was nowhere for 10 cars to pull over.

Winding down the hill into Yarra Glen it was time to try the phones again. "Are you in Yarra Glen yet?" I said ... "No, we are still on our way" ... "Well, we are! I will pull the group over to wait for you" I said ... After about 5 minutes the President breezed past to take up his rightful position at the head of the convoy. We headed out of Yarra Glen on the Yea road as far as the top of the Great Dividing Range. There we turned right to head off through Toolangi and down the Myers Creek Road - a Club favourite - to Healesville for morning tea.

After an ice cream for morning tea, it was time to press on towards Donna Buang. Although the route was originally planned to go via Don Road, this was changed to Dalry Road to avoid 4 km of dirt road. So, with a little difficulty, the convoy of 42 MX-5's picked its way through the heart of Healesville on a sunny Sunday morning. Not the most easily done but we manged without causing too much chaos. Once clear of Healesville, we headed down the Worri Yallock road and then via Dalry Road to join Don Road at Don Vally. Turning right, it was a pleasant drive down the valley to join the Warburton Highway at Launching Place. A left turn had us heading through Warburton with all the "Sunday drivers" on our way to Donna Buang. We haven't been to Warburton for a long time so it is another place to go back to one day.

It would have been nice to say we had a spirited run up Donna Buang but alas, a Toyota Corolla put an end to that - you shouldn't expect anything else on a Sunday... The Summit car park was full so it was back down to the lower car park for a picnic lunch. Lunch was the end of the arrangements for the day so people started drifting off making their own way home. Like a number of others, we first of all went back to the Summit and climbed the look-out tower. After a look around, it was time to choose how to get home. Although unmade, Healesville road off Donna Buang beckoned. If it was sealed it would have been a perfect MX-5 road - driving through a forest withs lots of twists and turns. However, with no spare tyre and only a puncture repair kit (standard for the NC model), dirt roads are something driven with great care.

Eventually the road reached a T-intersection with Don Road where it was time for another decision. We went left and along the 4 km of dirt road that had been in the original plan. It was a well made, smooth road that was easy to drive but it would have been intolerable for those at the back of a 42 car convoy. We made our way back onto the Warburton Highway at Worri Yallock and headed to Lilydale. Even though it was still quite early in the afternoon, Lilydale was congested so an early turn saw us going around the back of Lilydale and Chirnside Park. From there we made our way home through Wonga Park, Warrandyte and Research, thus making the day a rather lopsided figure of 8.

It was a really great day out and a great introduction to the MX-5 Club. Driving in convoy wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and the people are great to mix with. Some more club runs are definitely on the agenda...