Breakfast at The Gunshop Cafe, West End
On the morning of our departure, I googled places to eat breaky in Brisbane. We were due to fly out from Perth late on Tuesday night and arrive in Brisbane early on Wednesday morning. I found the website of the Gunshop Cafe, an old gun shop that’s been converted into a cafe. Jac and I rather liked the look of the menu, which offered a little more than the usual bacon and egg fry-ups. Wearing our backpacks (carry-on luggage), we worked up a good appetite walking to the cafe from Brisbane Central. I was thirsty when we arrived, and ordered a sparkling apple juice.

Pattycakes ordered the double smoked bacon with poached eggs, tomato and herbed hollandaise sauce served on turkish bread (AU$13.50). Initially, as she sawed through the thick slab of bread she thought it was a little too thick; but as she ate her way through the dish, her appreciation for the bread grew – it was a good accompaniment to the salty bacon and great for mopping up the hollandaise.

Jac picked out her dish from her first read of the menu back home in Perth – the vodka-cured ocean trout, spinach and poached eggs on sourdough bread, also served with herbed hollandaise (AU$17.50). Jac loves any sort of cured or smoked fish, she loves hollandaise sauce (eggs Benedict being one of her all-time favourite breakfast dishes), and sourdough is probably one of her favourite breads – this dish was made for her! She really enjoyed it. I think she especially loved the generous amount of hollandaise sauce poured over the top of the eggs and trout.

I’d also selected my dish the day before, sitting at my computer at home drooling over the menu. For me, this was pure joy and deliciousness: Canadian brioche french toast, bacon, caramelized banana and maple syrup ($15.50). Served as a stack of spectacular proportions, it looked even more amazing than I’d imagined – when this plate was presented to me I was gobsmacked in awe and delight! This is definitely not an “everyday” breakfast (I was on holiday – no lectures, please)!

The brioche French toast was thick and chunky. The bread had been soaked in egg for the perfect amount of time so it was beautifully soft and custardy in the middle. The fried egg coating on the outside of the toast crackled tantalisingly under my knife and fork as I carved myself big, greedy maple syrup-soaked mouthfuls, spearing slices of bacon rolled in maple syrup. The caramelised banana was soft and sweet and tasted unbelievably wonderful with the bacon and syrup. I wish more cafes and restaurants served caramelised / baked / deep-fried bananas! The next time I visit Brisbane, I’ll definitely be tempted to return to the Gunshop Cafe.

Arrival at Hamilton Island
This was the first photograph I took upon arrival on Hamilton Island – of golf buggies in the airport carpark. Everyone gets around the island in golf buggies – there are cars and trucks on the island, but they’re mostly island maintenance or construction vehicles. It was quite overcast when we arrived – it rained earlier that day, and it would end up raining heavily that evening. Luckily, after that first day of rain, we enjoyed sunny days, with temperatures in the mid to high twenties (Celsius).

But let’s talk about food again – I was thrilled to see that K had bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts at Brisbane Airport – this was the box of Original Glazed (11 doughnuts pictured – not surprisingly, someone had already eaten one).

There was also a box of assorted doughnuts – I love Krispy Kremes! I don’t usually like really sweet foods, but it’s their texture that I love – their soft chewyness. See the pink ones topped with coconut? There was some controversy with them – they were inspired by Arnotts Iced Vo-Vo biscuits and christened “Iced Dough-Vo” by Krispy Kreme – but now I see they’ve been renamed “Pink Iced Bobby Dazzler”. Heh. See these news articles on the issue:
Arnott’s takes on Krispy Kreme over Iced Vo-Vo clone
Arnott’s wins battle for Iced Vo-Vo

I hadn’t seen these before – Rocky Road Krispy Kremes. They look pretty full-on! Apparently they’re available for a limited time only. Once again, I must say: “Krispy Kreme, please open a store in Perth!” K offered us doughnuts to take back to our apartment, which we happily accepted. I looked forward to sinking my teeth into an Original Glazed doughnut later. :)

This cheeky kookaburra hung out on the balcony at B and K’s holiday house. It was there just about every time I was at the house. There was a brief funny moment when I thought the kookaburra had gotten into the house, but then I realised the one in the house wasn’t moving at all – it was stuffed!

The meatlovers pizza was topped with chorizo, ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, onion, cheese, and BBQ sauce.

The vegetarian pizza was topped with chargrilled eggplant and zucchini, artichoke, roasted capsicum and onion, with goat’s cheese, ricotta and fresh herbs.

One of the best buns ever
Earlier that afternoon while driving around, we’d checked out the shops at the marina. We stopped at the bakery and I’d bought a cinnamon bun. After scoffing down several slices of pizza, I felt like something sweet – my cinnamon bun.

This was everything I love in a cinnamon bun – sticky-glazed, studded with sweet raisins, drizzled with sugary icing, and the bun itself gorgeously plump, pillowy soft and chewy. I get so much enjoyment unravelling the doughy scroll as I eat, exposing fluffy white bun, biting into those juicy little raisins.