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This is what an Aussie pub should be. So rare now to find one these days not sterilized by yuppydom into what I call a "Woolworths Tavern", since Woolworths started buying up pubs and become the largest liquor supplier in the country. Old traditional pubs like "the Billi" have been homogenised out of existence into these bland sterile places with 19 televisions and you wouldn't know where you were once inside - no character and disinterested staff working for a corporate giant. The Billi is how pubs used to be in Australia.
This old pub used to be run by an old lady known as Ma Ring for many decades and she was over a hundred when she died. Ma took up the licence in 1929, arriving from Barcaldine where she had been a partner in a Hotel. For many years later all the stock arrived by Rail. Almost every parcel was addresed simply with initials M.A.R. The name stuck and most people in town had forgotten that her real name was Margaret Alice Ring. It was something of a tradition at the New Brighton that Mar took up her position in the quaint little Saloon Bar around 5 and the locals would vie for the honour of buying her a glass of beer.
An ardent card player, Mar gave her unique style to the watering hole which still bears her name. Her MBE, awarded in 1971 was recognition of her support for the Ambulance, Red Cross and School of Arts Hall. Mar continued as licensee until her death in 1983 aged 101!When Bob hawke was president of the ACTU he visited the Pub and Mar gave him a twenty minute lecture on how to serve a good beer. Short pull and clean pipes.
It is truly a classic older style Aussie Pub, just as it has been for who know how long, across the railway tracks at the tiney village of Billinudgel, just past Brunswick Heads off the Pacific Highway if you are heading north.
A one horse town!
Shaded by giant old Poinciana trees and offering 180-degree views of Simpsons Creek (a picturesque tributary of the Brunswick River), Hotel Brunswick in the sleepy beachside town of Brunswick Heads has been a popular watering hole for decades since famed Queensland hotelier Jim Cavill built it in 1940. The combination of classic pub cuisine, shady beer garden and free Sunday music sessions has enabled Hotel Brunswick to retain much of its original charm while navigating the changing face of traditional Aussie pubs.
While late-night lockouts and one-punch laws seek to reform a beleaguered hospitality industry, this iconic North Coast pub is using music to engage the community and has featured music Thursday-Sunday for over 20 years, and some of the best local musicians and some well known acts travelling through appear here. While parking can be an issue, it's a favourite place for locals to grab a top quality pub meal in the spacious beer garden (although the food queue can get pretty frustrating on the weekends) and it's not cheap for a pub, considering you have to line up and answer a buzzer. The meals are really big (almost too big), with generous salads but it's hard to avoid the ubiquitious Aussie chips and they NEVER change the menu. The fish eaters praised the fish and its freshness, with schnapper being their regular special, and the vegetable korma is delicious if you're a vego. While you are paying pretty well top prices for drinks, there is a weekly pool comp, pub raffles, a gaming room, engaging historical photos on the walls, some nice touches like an old rowing boat in the beer garden for kids to play on, and very professional uniformed staff, with some very pretty girls behind the bar.
The Beach Suites is a very beautiful boutique hotel right in the heart of the famous holiday destination of Byron Bay, built to cater for people who can afford the best when staying in beautiful Byron. With absolute beach front that's a good start.
This high quality block of private apartments are owned by a celebrity and designed to cater for celebritys with a sense of prestige and privacy to go with it. In fact, they bill the Beach Suites as: "Byron Bay's most private beachfront luxury accommodation. The best of Byron with light filled and spacious rooms, quality furniture and fittings.
Two and three bedroom penthouse apartments with their own rooftop pool, Studio style rooms in a garden setting or Beachfront studios with their own private plunge pool and private front gates for direct beach access." This truly is stunning accommodation with great uninterrupted views to that famous beach across the road. The Apartment we stayed in was absolutely spot on clean and well maintained to perfection. Below is a shot taken from entrance to one of the ground floor garden apartments.
Emmet's Takeaway Cupcake and Espresso Bar in Queensland's Noosa had people lined up for miles at 7am over the summer, so I had to try the coffee too.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't need a coffee to wake up in the morning. Except that is, if I'm on holiday. There's something magnificent about starting the day in a new location just as the locals do. So I always try to find the spots where people who live in the area hang, as this will give me an indication of life and character in the area, and that's what I love embracing. In Noosa, a town famous for it's beach culture, I found Emmet's Takeaway Cupcake and Espresso Bar just near my accomodation at Halse Lodge. I was walking to the beach at about 7am and saw a long line of people waiting. That's the right indication the coffee is good. Emmet's Takeaway Cupcake and Espresso Bar is a family run tiny coffee bar set up on the exterior of a surf shop. I'm sold, 'You had me at ..surf shop.'
The baristas are related, and will chat to you about what to do in Noosa and surrounding area while they perfect the art of the coffee you have ordered. They like to talk about hte cupcakes on offer, which look pretty amazing, but too early for me to taste at 7am, so I'll have to return.
15 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads, Queensland 4567
MOB 0402 835 081