Snapshot: The great Aussie pie shop

Snapshot: The great Aussie pie shop

The Warwick Pie Shop

At quite a different pace from the harried streets of New York City, Jim and I packed up the Toyota Land Cruiser and did our summer holiday Aussie-style, covering 3,000-odd kilometres of road (and not a single animal was harmed... almost).

Once Christmas had passed, it was off to Stanthorpe, Granite Belt wine country and home to the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival, en route meeting a lovely young couple who planned to stay two nights there but whose car had broken down.

From there it was off to Wandoan, north west of Toowoomba, where we saw the New Year in with friends on a 30,000 acre property, and milked a cow. Then we were Sydney-bound, taking the Pacific Highway on the way down and the New England on return (I'm sure many readers are familiar with the trip!). 

A pie shop at every stop offering the best meat between pastry you can find, I saw several book stores boarded up, which made me sad for these little towns (my middle-brow furrowed), some which appear to struggle under the weight of big-city capitalism while the West and its mining hubs gain ground.

We chanced upon a garage sale, though, operated by three women (grandma, mum, daughter) where I scooped up a Reader's Digest branded tome on exploration and colonisation. How apt.

Here's a wee video taking in some beautiful Aussie terrain and sweeping plains from the Cruiser window (points to those who identify Ballina!)...



Girl With a Satchel