Today I joined the Mercedes Club on a drive to Wollombi, which is a small town on the way to the Hunter Valley. The town was used in the 1840’s for convicts to stay while they built a road from Sydney to the Hunter and ultimately beyond. The Mercedes club has been organizing some rather interesting sounding drives recently so it was good to be able to come along – the roads in this area are very scenic and apart from idiots on motorcycles rather nice to drive on.
It was a lovely autumn day here in Sydney, so a great day to take the 250SE Cabriolet out. The route started in Thornleigh and took the old Pacific highway up to near Peats ridge, then the Old North Road to Wollombi. Lunch was at Mulla Villa, which is a house built by the convicts as they built the Old North Road. There are still convict cells under the house, which are available for a tour, although I had to leave before that could occur.
I also had to collect something in Emu Plains, so instead of taking the freeway back I took Wisemans Ferry road, over the ferry through Cattai, Pitt Town etc – a slower but much more pleasant drive. All in all I drove almost 300 miles, passing the lucky 77,777 odometer reading! This is the 3rd time this number has appeared given the 5 digit odometer.
The drive had a mix of old a new cars – my favorites were a midnight blue W113, a pristine white 107 SL and a red 114C.
Leave a Reply