Tuesday's Treasure with Melody

I am joining MELODY for "Tuesdays Treasures" today to share my 'treasure' and see what other 'treasure troves' are being shared. Go for a visit or share your treasure too.

My "Treasure" today is the lovely little village of "ULMARRA" 6 kms north of Grafton on the Pacific Highway. Most people drive straight through it but if like me you have ever had lunch at the "Commercial Ulmarra Hotel" (pictured above) on the banks of the Clarence river you will always stop in. The Hotel was transformed into the "Great Northern Hotel" for the TV mini-series "Fields Of Fire" (some of you may be old enough to remember) and photos of the filming which was done in and around this area can be seen on the walls of the hotel. It was first built in 1900 but burnt down and was rebuilt in 1911 and apparently there was much angst in the town as they had NO PUB for 12 months......can you imagine!! Horror! No Beer!
Now my husband and I are great fans of the BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato on a toasted Panini roll) and the rating given to any town or district is how good your BLT is. Ulmarra's was pretty good. The winner however is still the little cafe in Uralla called Twisted Lemon. 10/10. Sorry I digress! We sat out by the river to enjoy the view of the mighty Clarence River and our BLT'S. A very pushy water dragon (all 24 inches of him/her) came and demanded a share. So pushy in fact I had my feet up on the chair in the end terrified it would use them as a ladder to actually sit ON the table and not just under it.

Hubby enjoying "the serenity" Sorry! Aussie joke!

The view from our lunch table of the Clarence. The same river we were camped beside at Iluka as it found it's way to the sea.

And "Miss c'mom give me some Liz" the water dragon. She had bigger brothers and sisters harrassing other diners. She is cute though in a reptilian sort of way.

After our pleasant lunch we browsed through the lovely little gift and collectable shops in the small main street and I was NOT a good girl. I spied in a little shop a beautiful  "Queen Anne"china trio and as it spoke so nicely to me I bought it home. Are you surprised???? It is beautiful. The name of the shop was "Violetta's & Liilymaze" How cute is that. It was chocced full of all sorts and I had to restrain myself.

And no I am not finished yet. Just over the road was a second hand bookshop another favourite of ours. We had a lovely wander and made our selections only to be told everything was 50% off. Woo Hoo!! I bought several novels for another day and my most exciting purchase was a book about the maker of my "Attic Doll" (I featured in another post) Linda Carroll. It is a lovely book describing her creative process and lots of gorgeous photos of my dolls sisters in their beautiful vintage dresses. I was in heaven.

There is more..........around the corner and up the street was an antique and collectable store and in it I found a small plate also "Queen Anne" at only $8.00 I snapped it up because you see my Grandmothers favourite trio was this design and apart from the cup the rest was broken in one of their many moves around Queensland. She loved this design so much she still used the cup paired with another saucer. I have been looking for the saucer and plate for ages.....so just the saucer to go. If any of you out there know of anyone who may have a spare saucer in this design I would love to hear from you. Anyway here it is almost complete.

That was our 'treasured' day in "ULMARRA" which by the way is aboriginal for - bend in the river and a beauitful bend in the river it is too. So shout yourself lunch at the pub next time you travel that way and say G'day to Miss Liz out by the river you'll love it.
Blessings Michelle xx