Iced Tea

I’ve mentioned before that I live in a small town in rural Australia. Now it’s super tiny. Like whatever it is you’re picturing, I want you to halve it. Cool, okay, now halve it again. Now you’re getting closer, except we have evolved beyond horses and carts – think rusty Holden Utes – small doesn’t have to mean ye olde, people!

So 12 or so years back we left the big smoke for a tree change on a whim (it was because Hubby discovered eBay – If you want more on that story, you’ll have to buy my memoir). The farm we fell in love with was still close enough to the city to commute for work but too far for the in-laws to pop past unannounced. Perfect.

It’s Australia, so there is a pub, but pretty much all other small town amenity’s you can think of have been crammed into a single 20square meter one stop shop. This can actually be quite convenient if you don’t mind paying $6 for a litre of Coke and smelling like French fries every time you pick up mail or pay for fuel.

So as you might have imagined, apart from random million dollar marijuana busts you hear about on the news and the odd 4wd commercial, there’s not much going on around here at all.

The local entrepreneur and unofficial mayor of the town however, could foresee potential in our humble village and she bought up a block of land in the centre of “town” to turn into a group of actual real shops. The townsfolk originally laughed at her, but when a new highway to the coast was built and as the price of housing in the city became more and more unaffordable, the population exploded and suddenly we all discovered we needed an antique store more than we had realised.

After a gruelling few years of council plan negotiations, building supply shortages and 2020-2022 in general, the long awaited shops have finally opened and among them is a café.

The café is owned by my neighbours and they have offered me some casual work. It’s great because it gets me out of the house, they are aware that I am forgetful and I talk a lot, they know I have physical limitations from the cancer surgeries and can’t be there too much yet they are willing to accommodate those things.

I’ve only done three shifts now, but it’s really fun and surprisingly busy! The other staff are great, I’m meeting local people I had only heard of (I tend to hermit away on the farm) I’m also re-meeting a bunch of people I don’t recognise that seem to know me somehow… (DID problems). And today I got to play with a coffee machine. The science behind coffee is considerably more intricate than I thought and I have a newfound admiration for barista’s.

So if you’re ever in a teeny tiny town in the middle of nowhere and you see a quaint little café, it might just be mine. Pop in for an iced tea, local gossip and quite possibly the best bacon and egg roll in Australia.