Breakfast or Break-In

It is the middle of winter in Australia right now and in the Blue Mountains where I am we should be freezing our butts off. Today we woke to a stunning sunrise so we decided to take a drive to a cafe we had discovered a couple of months ago. Located about 40 minutes from where we live in a locality called Dargan, the Monkey Creek Cafe is situated on a ridge overlooking valleys on both sides. What struck us as we drove past on our way home from another day excursion was the outside appearance of the Monkey Creek Cafe. The first thing you notice is the curved corrugated iron roof of the structure which sits on its own nestled among a small stand of eucalypts. The second thing you notice is the view.

So today was the perfect day for a Sunday drive to a quaint little cafe especially since it felt more like Spring than Winter. We pulled in to the carpark and our attention was immediately drawn, not by the stunning outlook under the impossibly blue sky but to the Police vehicle off to one side competing for attention with the dozen or so Lotus cars of various model and colour comfortably claiming their positions in all the allocated car spaces.

Not sure what to make of all of this we found a spot around the back and made our way towards the entrance pausing to admire the fantastic metal sculptues dotted about the property. The cafe was cold when we entered and there was a huddle of patrons queuing for coffee. The fire wasn't lit. There was no internal lighting on. As we waited to be served we gradually got snippets of overheard conversation and discovered that the cafe had been broken into overnight. The back glass door had been smashed, the cash register had been stolen. The cafe owners were soldiering on with coffee service but unable to make any food or heat the building until after the finger printing had been carried out.

That's ok, we had only intended to have coffee anyway. The situation didn't dampen our admiration for the building or its location. We had an unexpected surprise when I suddenly found myself talking to the owner of the property and realised I already knew of him. There is a well-known and highly unusual holiday accommodation nearby called The Hatter's Hideout. Unusual because the accommodation is in a cave! I had heard about this place some years ago so was delighted to be able to chat to Mark about the Hideout and the local area.

We let the Lotus owners pull out and continue their Sunday drive ahead of us before we continued on our little day trip.