Pies, Rum and Petrol

So, as we head up the coast I've noticed a couple of things worthy of mention:

1. Although many people will tell you that Yatala pies (between Brisbane and Gold Coast) are the best pies going around, they aren't. Don't misinterpret, they're good...but they're not the best. In my eyes the top 3 in order are Beefy's Pies (at Ettamogah Pub - on the way to the Sunshine Coast), Elaine's Pies (Canberra), Sam's Pies (Innisfail - NQ). Elaine's Steak and Mushroom gets a notable mention but the lack of mushy peas relegates it to second behind the Signature Steak with Mushy Peas at Beefy's. In the Beefy's picture below, you can see all the awards on the wall inside!

2. If you get the chance to go on the Bundaberg Rum distillery tour...do it, even if you don't like rum. $25 for 50 minute tour including 2 drinks at the end for tasters....on that topic, make sure one of them is the Royal Liqueur...its only available there (not sold anywhere else full stop) and is sensational. Maybe don't take the 10 a.m. tour as we did though, as its a little tough drinking 4 rums at 11 in the morning (Anita was on driving duties this day obviously!). I was hurting.

3. Buy petrol in QLD. Although theoretically petrol should get more expensive as the distance from distribution increases, it seems there are too many businessmen in Mexico. Cheapest petrol south of the border, 105.9c/l....cheapest north of the border (although Brisbane is suss) 93.9c/l, most expensive 98.9c/l. That's right, my litre numbers are bigger than my $$ numbers!

Hitting the road

Wednesday night we camped in Port Macquarie, right by the beach. The campground was entirely surrounded by temporary fencing - probably a hangover from schoolies in order to keep the paying drunkards in and the vagrant drunkards out. There was a group of guys who seemed to have kicked on with their celebrations - when we rolled in at around 4pm they were already wasted and singing along to Bob Marley tunes at the top of their lungs. All good fun. They were stil trying to go hard at around 9pm after we'd rolled back in from dinner. Even funnier was when there was a bit of commotion in their tents at around 9am, and then about 10 minutes later, some sorry looking dudes standing around hosing down an air mattress :-)

Later on we accidentally took the scenic route towards Grafton. All seemed pretty sweet for a while - lush green fields, quaint houses and peaceful grazing cows - just like we'd entered The Shire with all the hobbit folk. Then we hit a dirt road, apparantly heading back to the Pacific Highway. Ok, still pretty sweet, a bit bumpy, but lots of nice trees and green fields. Then more trees. And then no more signs. Until we saw a big sign for a religious commune in the middle of nowhere - what the?! Around this time, we're thinking: is this some kind of real-life version of "The Village"? Time to wind up the windows, lock the doors and get the hell outa here before Murphy's Law causes us to break down and have to go in search of help, only to fall into the hands of a cult community and be forced to eat nothing but lentils and spirulina juice... Thankfully, we didn't break down, and about 10 km on joined back onto the main road.

Thursday night we camped out in Byron Bay. Apparantly schoolies week is still going strong in Byron too - or maybe it's just the kids who can't let go (or aren't ready to face up to working for the council next week). Having not been to Byron since Blues n Roots several years ago, it's hard to tell if much has changed. There seems to be a healthy split between cheap and scabby takeaways, and swanky restaurants for the more discerning patrons. We chose the first option for dinner, since the 3 tortillas for $10 seemed too good to pass up. Unfortunately they're also really hard to eat, and 20 minutes later I'd managed to drip spicy sauce and sour cream all over my skirt and shoes, and generally made a right pig of myself.. but I guess that's nothing new.

Now it's the weekend and we're staying at my sister's place in Brisvegas. Thank god we're not sleeping in the cruiser, because it's been 34 degrees and stinking hot since we got here. We've been having fun entertaining their dogs, Ksubi and Levi, patting/teasing the cat, Kamal, and generally not doing much except sleeping and eating....