On The Road Again - Tamworth And Beyond - Part Three

You asked for it, so here it is!  Well, maybe you didn't but you're getting it anyway :=)  More about our recent trip down south/out west.  We love a roadtrip!  And art galleries, and mountains and wildlife, and food, and architecture - well, you get the drift ...

we saw kangaroos at Ebor-Guy Fawkes Cemetery, NSW

  

we stayed at The Pottery Shed cottage in Boambee near Coffs Harbour
- see the wee gas stove?

we took a walk on the Coffs Harbour Jetty

and joined lots of folk taking a morning stroll

heading here!

I bought a small ceramic whale here, by Indigenous artist Tony Hart

I ate a fabulous rösti with grilled halloumi

while Mr P. had "magic" apple-cinnamon pancakes

we had lunch here in Sawtell (as per above)

we visited the brilliant new building holding the Coffs Harbour Council/Library and Art Gallery
 - artwork on wall by Reece Flanders titled River Connections

Mr P. and I loved this building!

and we enjoyed walking around the top storey of the building

we had time for a coffee!

And then we drove the 4.5 hours home, back to Brisbane.  Some misguided people would like to suggest that time goes backward when you cross the QLD border.  How silly of them, and how clever of us to keep 'em away - hehehe ...

the whale by Tony Hart

Road Trip To Sydney - And Back Again

Mr P. and I took a week's break to drive to Sydney - and back again (as Bilbo Baggins would say).  It was actually to attend a friend's wake, but it was not a sad thing.  We celebrated her life, and enjoyed meeting up with people we hadn't seen for a long time.  Everyone had similar stories about her - she was always smartly-dressed, a great cook and host, a fun person to be around.  She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her!

Here is a quick photo essay about our trip:

there was sculpture in Stanthorpe (might be by Maggie Brockie)

and deserted buildings in Deepwater

supply ships in Sydney

and wharves in Woolloomooloo

wonders in Warwick

art (by Yayoi Kusama) at Art Gallery NSW

delectable green goodies at Gosford

food at Forster

beachy fun at Forster

splendour at Sawtell

where the river meets the sea at Sawtell

We do love a road trip, and this was no exception.  Luckily, we had good weather, though it did rain (a lot!) in Sydney.  We Queenslanders were a wee bit cold down there :=)  We met up with a friend who lives there, and enjoyed the Art Gallery and Museum.  Gotta suggest you don't go to a museum in school hols. on a wet day in Sydney though - so many babies and children and prams and stressed parents and wet umbrellas and overcrowded lifts, and dangerously damp floors :=)!

Anyways, we loved our trip and loved being able to say goodbye to our dear friend whom we had known nearly our whole adult lives.  Bless you and goodbye, dearest Ailsa!

A Long Weekend in Historical Maryborough Queensland

While we may not be able to travel interstate or overseas, we can still travel within our state.  A dear friend was having an art exhibition in beautiful and historical Maryborough recently, so we headed up for the weekend.  We stayed in a waterfront hotel (down the road at Hervey Bay), with views of the marina and bay.  And it rained ... and it rained ... but who cared?  Not us.  We were just happy to be away.

a view from our room

We stayed at Hervey Bay (30 km/19 miles) down the road, and drove back to Maryborough each day.  The whale watching boats were in the marina below us, so we could watch them go out each morning.  

there were Alice in Wonderland figures

Our friend had her exhibition at Gataker's Artspace, which is in the historical part of town.  It is full of lovely old buildings, cafés, river walks, museums and artworks.  A great place to while away some time.

and chandeliers in the local pub 

We had dinner at the Federal Hotel, after the opening night.  It was cold and rainy, but we sat outside - 'cos we're tough:-).  Dinner was a tasty salad and a glass of wine.  

we ate roast veg and halloumi salad

and grilled chicken salad plus a poached egg

there's lots of street art like this

The signal boxes around town are decorated with steampunk/historical art.  So cute, so colourful, so fascinating.

You can visit Mary Poppins at The Story Bank Museum

P. L. Travers, the writer of Mary Poppins, was born in this building, which is now restored and converted to a museum.  Kitsch you ask?  No my dears, it's fun and interesting and full of art.  We loved it!

and take a ride in the lift with me and Mr P.

and zoom up and down the banisters with her

you can eat a sloppy joe here

We ate lunch at Portside Café, overlooking the Mary river.  Known as Moocooboola by the indigenous Kabi people, this river is the home of the endangered QLD Lungfish and the Mary River turtle.  The Port of Maryborough was one of Australia's busiest immigration ports from the 1850s.  It is now a quiet country town but still shows its history in the buildings and museums. 

or a beef and beetroot salad

take a walk and check out beautiful old buildings at Portside

buy yourself some pig at the local butcher

admire the bollards down by the river

view the beautiful old buildings

check out more street art

Is it co-incidence that all those cars are the same?:-)  And check out all those air-con units - like sentinels watching over the car park.  

wander past more street art

Here we have The Match Making Machine by Russell Anderson.  You can find his public art in various towns around Queensland.  He is one of my faves.  Another couple was checking it out too, and mumbled something about: 'You Queenslanders like this sort of thing...?'  We wondered how non-Queenslanders were even there, as our borders were and are still closed!

enjoy a hearty Benny with bacon at Hervey Bay

We had a late breakfast on the Sunday we were leaving, here at Eat at Dan & Steph's (alumni of the tv cooking show My Kitchen Rules).  Fabulous food, a view of the bay, just slightly iffy service.

eat grilled halloumi and corn fritters

head to Hervey Bay and watch the dragon boats head out

and maybe buy a sculpture like I did!

I couldn't help myself, dear readers!  I bought one of our friend's pieces - The Red Queen.  Catherine made a beautiful body of work for this Alice exhibition.  I was in love with all of them.

We had a wonderful weekend here, and will head up again soon to pick up our sculpture when the exhibition ends.  If ever you are here ... spare a day or two to check out this marvellous wee town.

Alcove Café and Deli Wilston - Review

To be honest, I'm not feeling the blog love at the moment.  What I mean is that it somehow seems incongruous and superfluous, but there will be good times ahead, so I'm going to 'Keep Calm and Carry on' as they said on those ubiquitous wartime posters.  We can still enjoy takeaways from our fave places, like this one.  (And when did takeaways become pickups?!)  We all need to support our local businesses, otherwise when all this is but a bad dream, we won't have anywhere to sit and relax, and eat good food and drink great coffee...

rustic exterior

We actually had brunch here a few months ago with a friend up from Sydney.  We all enjoyed our meals, and the friendly service, so we were happy to head here again last week (before the social distancing and isolation came into effect).  Braving the COVID-19 fears, Mr P. and I went out for a quick lunch.  It was early lunchtime, it was very busy, and it was starting to rain.  We dashed under the large umbrellas, and grabbed a seat.  A very friendly and charming waitress came by with menus, glasses and a carafe of water. 

Mr P. went to order at the counter, which is the norm these days, and we rapidly received – a cappuccino for me, and a mango and vanilla bean smoothie for him.  My coffee was fine, though I prefer it a little stronger; hubby loved his thick and cold smoothie.  You could even see the specks of vanilla in his drink, and there was a fruity taste of mango.  I went for the avocado smash with bacon, on organic sourdough.  Sadly, we both felt the bacon was a little light-on, considering you pay extra.  (At our December lunch here, the bacon was very generous!)  The bread was tangy, soft inside, crisp on the outside but not too hard.  You know how crusts sometimes cut your mouth?  Nope, this was not like that.  The radish gave the dish a nice little peppery zing, and the dukkah gave it a spicy hit.  

Mr P. chose the roast pumpkin fritters.  A common whinge from me is that cafes often when serving ‘fritters’ are really serving pancakes!  Once again, I would call these pancakes, rather than fritters which to my mind, should be mostly veg. with a wee bit of flour and egg to bind them.  These were flavoursome enough with pumpkin and chickpeas, but not to my taste – I felt they were somewhat stodgy.  Fortunately it wasn’t me eating them; hubby was perfectly content!  

It started to pour down, and the umbrellas were starting to leak, so we grabbed our belongings and ran back to the car.  We felt virtuous, and well-fed, happy to have helped a local business in this time of crazy, crazy madness.  Enough toilet paper yet, everyone? :-)

mango and vanilla bean smoothie $7.90

cappuccino $4

avocado smash on organic sourdough $13.90

The bacon is a bit light on, don't you think?  I think I paid an extra $6
for it:-(  Below is a photo of the same dish in December!  Sooo generous, and bacon-heavy, to my delight.

smashed avo with bacon and egg (in Dec 2019)

roast pumpkin fritters $17.90

Sadly, Alcove like every other café and restaurant is closed except for takeaways for the foreseeable future.  Good luck everyone!  Keep well, keep happy and wash your hands (to the tune of Happy Birthday for twenty seconds - tee hee).

rustic exterior but great food and service

Ph: 07 3161 1591

92 Kedron Brook Road, Wilston Q 4051