Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Weekend drive...

A couple of weeks ago we headed off on a drive down to Bangalow and the Byron hinterland. It was a really nice relaxing drive and it was great to get out of Brisbane for the day. We missed the awesome Bangalow Markets which were on the weekend before but it was lovely to have a walk around and check out the local stores.

In Bangalow there are some great homeware and gift shops to check out including Little Peach which is great for everything Japanese from kimonos to authentic kokeshi dolls; Aurora which stocks eco-homewares and supplies; and a new shop further down the main road, The New Collector. It was full of awesome vintage industrial design items including old cameras, typewriters and school maps. It really reminded me of shops I went to in Melbourne last year.

Of course we had to have a coffee so we visited one of our favourite cafes Utopia. As you can see below the food, was as always impeccable. What I thought would be a simple bruschetta came out on a beautiful wooden board and was filled with caramelised figs, peach and prosciutto. It was delicious! It was something a bit different to what I would normally order but I was glad I did.


It was however sad to see that our other favourite place to eat the Urban cafe and the gift shop next door burnt down a few months ago. It was such a shame and we really hope it will reopen sometime soon in the future.







Just outside of Bangalow heading west along the road to Lismore is the Retro Shop. It is full of great 50's, 60's and 70's vintage items including fabric, books and kitchenware. It is not really the place to grab an op shop bargain but it was full of quality hard to find items.



Newrybar

After our walk we jumped back in the car and headed just south of Bangalow along the Pacific Highway to Newrybar. In all the years we have travelled down this way we had never thought to drop into this tiny place. After hearing here that there was an antique shop I felt compelled to have a look.

Country House Antiques was lovely but it was largely filled with expensive furnishings rather than knick knacks and collectibles which is more my kind of thing. However it was nice to have a look around. The best thing we found though was the Harvest Cafe across the road. It was packed with people and looked like a great place for lunch. We will definitely have to try it out next time.



On the way home instead of heading back through Bryon Bay we took a lovely drive through the Hinterland via The Channon and ended up back at Murwillumbah...


It was such a lovely day full of the best of things in life, good food, antique shops and good company. If you ever feel like Sunday drive this is such a great place to visit.

Cheers
Sarah xoxox


2 comments:

  1. what a gorgeous road trip! mum and i dined at the urban for the first time just two days before it burnt down. sad times. that brekkie you had at utopia looks divine. i too love bangalow. my friend has told me about the retro shop...i wanna have a peek if only for the fabric! :) so nice to see your blog up and running again..some great posts as of late. happy thursday!

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  2. Oh, i love that part of the world but haven't been there for years :( Looks like you had an amazing time!

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