DAY 4 - GIRL'S WEEK - VISIT TO RICK'S GARAGE & DRIVE TO MALENY...

 One of the things on my bucket list for checking out on the Sunshine Coast for quite some time has been paying a visit to Rick's Garage at Palmwoods.  What better time to do it when the girls were here and we were looking for outhings and places to visit...

Again because the weather was forecast to be pretty ordinary at the end of the week, we decided to check it out earlier rather than later in the week.  The weather still wasn't the best, very overcast and windy but at least it wasn't raining..

I had read quite a bit about Rick's Garage from traveling pages I follow on Facebook, and it appealed to my sense of quirkiness and the fact that it was an old garage that has now been converted into a restaurant was very appealing...

This garage has quite a history which dates back to 1922, when it began life as a mechanical workshop.  For more than eight decades it endured as a local mechanic and service station until the present owners Rick and Lisa Jamieson purchased the then named "Palmwoods Auto Care"on May 1, 2003.

Rick's Garage is now one of Queensland hospitality's great success stories.   A change in environmental laws forced the Jamieson's to shut down the fuel station which meant the main source of income was removed and the business was at a crossroads.  Instead of giving up, Rick and Lisa breathed new life into the venue; in 2009, "Palmwoods Auto Care" became "Rick's Garage".  The workshop became a diner, the mechanic's scrapyard a beer garden, and the adjoining video store a room for retro memorabilia.

Recently the Jamieson's have had renovations undertaken and have built new upstairs bathrooms and an outdoor deck with seating and views of the hinterlands.  It now also plays host to live music in it's RETRO Room, every Friday night which bands being sourced from Brisbane as well as extremely talented locals who have evreything rocking and toe tapping..  Music is from 6pm to 9pm sharp due to local noise restrictions but it is great dancing music ranging from RocknRoll, Swing, Rockabilly and Blues.

I had lots of fun exploring everything so I can just image how much more motoring and history buffs would appreciate all the memorabilia that is displayed at the dinner.  If you have flexible neck muscles you could spend ages checking out all the photos on the ceiling.  

Surprisingly most of the retro memorabilia which gives the diner its 1950s rock-n-roll feel has been sourced from scraps and parts lying around the garage.  The owners retained the garage as a reminder of "Palmwoods" history and apparently even to this day you can have your car worked on by a mechanic whilst you grab lunch. 

The owners really loved all those old American type things, he likes old cars and bikes  and all the old theme bars.  Around 30 years ago Australia had many independent bars with unique themes but these days most bars are pretty plain, so the owners wanted to add some charm and character to the diner..

The food at the diner received big wraps from the reviews that I had read on the traveling Facebook pages, especially their burgers and milkshakes.  A good friend of mine had highly recommended the Calamari salad which seemed to suit me as their burgers are massive and I doubt that I would be able to manage one of those on my own.   I have to admit that the cakes and desserts in the glass cabinet looked pretty awesome as well as the donuts that topped the milkshakes.

Awesome Ricks Garage Milkshakes...  their specialty....

The Calamari salad was amazing....

We certainly enjoyed our visit here, and it is definitely a place I would come and visit again.  In fact I am looking forward to bringing Steve here as I am sure he would find all the memorabilia really interesting and I know he would love the Calamari Salad also as he loves his seafood...

Some pretty good cakes and desserts in this cabinet

From Rick's Garage we were going to head into Palmwood and see if we could find any any Op Shops..  We had checked our internet and found that there was a place called "The Shed" that sold second hand goods so thought we would go check it out....

This place is popular with motorbike enthusiasts.

"The Shed" was not what we expected.  We thought that when it said second hand goods, it was more like a Op Shop or second hand shop.    It did sell second hand  goods but not the sort of second hands goods that we were thinking of.  This place specilised in Quality Designer New and second hand high quality furniture and interiors.  

Appartently, the business was started in 2011 and the husband and wife duo who have a background in Property and Interior Design  source beautiful pieces to compliment and enrich the spaces people live in.  It seemed that their emphasis was on reusing vintage restored furniture  as well as new and vintage homewares, art and decor pieces.  They also had quite a bit of jewellery but it all seemed to be quite expensive.  Even their beautiful disposable paper serviettes were like $14 a packet.  We are used to paying about $2 to $3 a packet from the cheap shops...

Still it was nice to see all the beautiful things, but we didn't spend too long there as things were packed in and you had to be carefully when walking past that your bag or your body didn't knock anything as you were walking past...

I also wasn't too game to  take photos in there as they place looked a little too upmarket..

We left the Shed to head to Maleny.  The countryside looks amazing at the moment.  They have obviously had quite a bit of rain up here as everything is really great...

On our way to Maleny we drove past Gerrard's Lookout and decided to stop and have a good look.  The lookout treats you to great views of the Mooloolah River Catchment, where we were able to see more of Nambour, Mudjimba Island, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore.  The panoramic views were really quite breathtaking...

There is a small car park and the whole area is covered in lush greenery.  There was a bit of a climb to get to the gazebo with picnic tables and seating, so if we had had a thermos and picnic basket with us we could have had afternoon tea.  

We found a memorial plaque of Charlie and Hazel Gerrard there.  They were responsible for donating the land where the lookout is located.

We also found out that due to the slope of the mountain, the area is also popular for paragliding, although we didn't see anyone out there in the sky today.  Could have had something to do with the bleak weather conditions and also because it was in the middle of the week...

Views from Gerrard's Lookout

We were fascinated with the home directly below us .  Their views would have been fantasic, but their roof was a grassed platform that blended into the hillside, so looking from above you had no idea that it was even a house.  All you could see were these four little cylinders popping up from the earth...

It was quite late in the afternoon by the time we got to Maleny.  Once again the girls wanted to check for Op Shops.  I was a little over then by now, but we did end up finding one, although the items in there were quite expensive for a second hand store...

I was quite impressed with a second hand bookshop that I found and could easily have spent an hour or more pouring over some of the interesting books in there...

Meanwhile, the girls had wandered further up the street, and I came across them checking out the Maleny Chocolate Shop.  Now this place had some seriously interesting chocolate and other sweets.  We all decided to indulge and we had a hard time trying to figure out just which ones to indulge in...

The Maleny Chocolate Co was formerly known as Lief Chocolates which first started back in 2006 when they were supplying the Eumundi Markets and the Brisbane chocolate shops.  By 2019 they had outgrown their previous home and there was a need for expansion and so a larger factory and retail outlet was built in Maple Street in Maleny. 

Their chocolates are made from the best Belgian chocolate cuvertures for their bars and then they are loaded generously with the topping and then they are wrapped in clear bags so you can see exactly what you are getting.  They add no preservatives, artificial flavourings or vegetable oils to lengthen shelf life or cheapen production costs, so what you are getting is top grade chocolate and it tastes divine...   It is a good thing that it was quite a drive from our place up to Maleny, otherwise we could have been very tempted to go and grab some more...

These were the two I bought to share - they were DIVINE...

After we purchased our chocolate here, we decided to head across to the other side of the road to head back to the car.  Maleny is quite a pretty place....  There are lots of arts and craft galleries around Maleny and we had a bit of a sticky beak into a couple of them.

There were lots of cafes and restaurants in the main street as well.  Most of the eateries feature local and organic produce  which are sourced in the area.     The town itself is nestled in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and lies in picture perfect postcard dairy country interspersed with rainforests.  It is situated high in the Blackall Range  about 30 kilometres south-est of Caloundra.

It was quite late in the afternoon when we arrived home...

We were all a little tired and all we wanted to do was put our feet up and relax...  Relaxing meant wine time, so the girls were quick to get the wine out whilst I prepared a cheese platter for us to enjoy..

And then later in the evening after we had dinner,  we decided to have a sample of our new bought chocolates with a cuppa for dessert. 

All in all, we have had a great day...  We have had three busy days.  Tomorrow the girls are going to check out more Op Shops whilst I visit the hairdresser to get some foils.