Açai bowl at Casualties Espresso
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Today we had a lunch booked at The Byabarra Cafe, based on a recommendation from a friend. This is in the tiny settlement of Byabarra, so small that doesn’t even count as a village (or have a Wikipedia page), in the mountain hinterland inland from Port Macquarie.
But first we had breakfast, walking down the hill back to the same place as yesterday: Casualties Espresso. M. had the same muesli as yesterday, but today I went for the açai bowl, which essentially replaced the yoghurt with a large serve of frozen açai. I love eating this stuff because it's like having ice cream for breakfast!
Açai bowl at Casualties Espresso |
Since the drive to lunch was only about 40 minutes, we took some time after breakfast to go for a walk down to Town Beach and then along the grassy parkland just behind the sand. It had rained very heavily overnight and was very windy this morning, and threatening drizzle. But the rain held off enough for us to let Scully run around off-lead in the park a bit, which was good.
 A crested pigeon in the dog park |
We set out westwards in the car and stopped at the town of Wauchope to have a look around. It’s a typical small country town, with a single main street lined with a couple of blocks of shops. But down a tiny narrow alley we stumbled across a coffee shop called Dark Alley Coffee. We only went in because my wife felt like a coffee (I don’t drink coffee), but then we noticed the whole place was decorated with Star Wars posters, models, toys, and trinkets.
 Dark Alley Coffee |
I chatted with the owner while he made M.’s coffee. He was into Dungeons & Dragons too, so I mentioned Darths & Droids and gave him the address, which he said he’d definitely check out. And only then as we said bye and turned to leave we noticed the giant mural on the wall outside!
 Mural at Dark Alley Coffee |
A 20 minute drive later we arrived at The Byabarra, which was on a stretch of road with a few houses in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farming country. There was no actual village to speak of. I'd booked a few weeks ago by phone, saying that we needed an outdoor table because we would be bringing our dog. When I entered the front door and said we were here for our booking with the dog, the lady said nobody told her there'd be a dog, and she'd have to get an outdoor table ready. Walking around the back, we saw that all the tables outside were stowed for wet weather, and were very wet. The lady dried off a table and two chairs next to the wall and seated us there. We had an excellent view out across the valley.
 The view from The Byabarra |
Lunch was excellent, sitting on the back veranda looking out over a long valley stretching into the distance, partly forested with eucalypts and partly grazing land, listening to the calls of numerous birds in the trees. We started with arancini, then I had salmon with miso rice, while M. had a vegetable lasagne. The food was really nice and well presented. Definitely a good meal.
 Salmon with miso rice |
When we'd finished our main courses, the lady came around to collect the plates and asked if we'd like to see "the naughty board". Well, this sounded too good to pass up, so of course we did! She brought out a small blackboard and propped it up against another table.
 The Naughty Board |
I selected the lemon-passionfruit tart, and the lady then asked me if I wanted it with ice cream or whipped cream. I said, "The answer is yes." And she said, "Ah, both, good call!" The tart, while nice, wasn't quite up to the presentation standard of the savoury food. It looked more like a simple slice of tart with some ice cream and whipped cream scooped on top, like you'd get at a standard cafe. But not to complain - the whole meal and experience was really good overall.
After eating, I wanted to see if we could return to Port Macquarie via a different route, rather than just retrace our path exactly. There was a promising looking road via Comboyne and Lorne that would form a convenient loop via the coast. I asked the staff about the road, wondering if it might be unsealed gravel or dirt. They confirmed there was a dirt road, but said it was in good repair and should be fine.
So we set out, on a beautifully scenic road through dense forests, taking a turn off the main road onto the dirt road that cut across back to the coast. We were enjoying the scenery of the thick forest in the mist, and glad we'd decided to take this road.
 Lorne Road, east of Comboyne |
It started off okay, but after a few kilometres the road became very rocky and bumpy, shaking and rattling the car alarmingly. We pressed on, eventually returning to paved road, and it was then that I noticed a strange sound...
We pulled over and I went out to check the car, to see if there was a branch caught underneath or something. I found instead that the right rear tyre was flat, obviously punctured by a sharp rock somewhere on the dirt road. Well, we were basically in the middle of nowhere - a sign showed we were on the corner of Lorne Road and Palm Valley Lane. It was about 15 km to the nearest town. And our car is so small that it doesn’t carry a spare tyre.
Fortunately we had mobile phone reception - just. It wavered in and out slightly and we had to repeat ourselves a few times. M. called the NRMA for roadside assistance, and they said they could arrange a tow to a nearby town, where we could get a new tyre. While she was on the phone, they gave her a number to call for an auto repair place in Laurieton, to check if they had tyres suitable for our car in stock. I phoned on my phone and they confirmed they had the right tyres, but then asked what time we'd be arriving. The problem was that by the time a tow truck could get to us and then return us to Laurieton, it would be about closing time, and we might have to leave the car at the auto repair place overnight. Which would mean we were stuck about 50 km from our hotel, and might have to get a taxi there... and then back again in the morning.
Well... we waited, and it rained... so part of the time we had to sit inside the car which got a bit stuffy. Eventually the tow truck showed up. It was a flatbed type, so I drove the car slowly up the ramp onto the bed of the truck, where the driver secured it. The driver said we had to leave Scully in the car, it was illegal for him to drive with a dog in the cabin of the truck, and it was also illegal ot have a person in the car being carried - people had to ride in the cabin. So we had to leave Scully there alone for the ride, which she didn’t like at all.
After a while I became concerned that we'd buckled her in using her collar, and if she fell off the seat into the footwell then she'd be hanging by her neck and perhaps unable to get back up on the seat. So I asked the driver to stop, and went back to check on Scully. She was unhappy, but physically okay. I put her harness on and attached the restraint to that instead of the collar, which would be safer.
Anyway, long story short, we arrived at the service centre at 4:55 pm, and the receptionist said the mechanics were just about to go home for the day... but the head mechanic saw our predicament and said they’d do the tyre change for us before they knocked off for the day. Phew!
 The car having the tyre changed |
So 15 minutes later we had a new tyre and were on our way. So it was all a bit of an adventure which we’ll laugh about later.
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