"This is Australia."

The Central Highlands of North Queensland are probably not No.1 on the main tourist route so, when we called into the very helpful tourist information centre at Emerald, we picked up the necessary brochures to carry us over for the next day or so of travelling. The tourist information centres are an absolute 'mine' of information (well, we are near the gem fields!) and extremely helpful. We have found this in every place we have been to in Queensland, they are run by volunteers and you couldn't really find a more helpful and knowledgeable group of people.

So, when I read through one of the said brochures a small "point of interest", which was actually a couple of lines tucked away in the bottom corner of an inconspicuous page, caught my eye. "Rolleston? Don't we pass through there?" I asked Mrs G. Not much else en route but at least I logged it in to the mental map. Rolleston (population of 139) is not very near to anywhere but you have to pass through it if you are en route south from the gemfields of the Central Highlands (Rubyvale, Sapphire etc), or heading north further into the Australian hinterland. For us it was a good 1.5 hrs of solid driving through lots and lots of trees, scrubland and cattle stations when we arrived at the community of Rolleston. A little out of the way, you could say, as no cars had come up behind us in that time and we had only waved to a couple coming towards us!

We had blinked and nearly missed Rolleston, as it wasn't very big, when we noticed a number of motorhomes and camper vans parked up around the side of what looked like a lovely garden. "Stop, over there, that must be the Rolleston Coffee Cart!" mentioned in aforementioned book. "What? Ffs, there is an 'effing' queue for the coffee!" Readers, bear in mind we had driven for 1.5 hrs, seen very few people and we suddenly come across a small coffee cart, in the middle of nowhere, with people queueing, most strange!

The "Rolleston Coffee Cart" is run by volunteers and any profits go back into the beautification of their small park. It was just bizarre, wooden tables and chairs were laid out with brightly coloured cushions making the place look really bright and cheerful. Parasols were opened up as more and more, mostly ageing, campers (where had they all come from?) turned up in their vehicles. The coffee cart (only holds two small people) is located within the confines of an old pioneering shed with a hammock and chairs outside it.

The lovely lady serving the coffees was, however, part of the problem - she was so jolly and interested in chatting to her customers that waiting in the queue became all part of the experience. By the time I got to ask for "two flat whites" (this by the way, was Sally's first ever hot coffee which she has enjoyed, as that was all they did!) I had discovered that; the lady had fallen in love with her house before she got married, 25 years ago, but it was in a different town and the house was about to be demolished. When her family moved to Rolleston she had it moved to it's current location. It is a beautiful, typical Queenslander house, so why not? Like the house, like another location so, cut it in half ("down the hallway" she said), put it on a lorry and put it somewhere you do like! That's what Australians can, and do! Two of her six children were helping in the coffee cart as Ken the farmer turned up with a bucket load of the brightest, biggest tomatoes you have ever seen and said to the lady, "Here you go, you can sell these at 4 for a $1" (supermarket tomatoes are way more expensive). Although third in the queue, there was only half a bucket left by the time I picked mine! Ken was also of the mind that this was the best coffee around, and was prepared to wait his turn!

Anyway, the banter and conversation ("No, there wasn't an Aldi close by selling lactose free milk" - a genuine comment!) in the queue was better than any queue for the bar at any sporting event I have attended, and so was the camaraderie around the many well decked tables while sitting and enjoying our coffee - which was, I hasten to add, delightful! Did I mention that each table had a copy of 'Australia today' on it plus a vase with fresh flowers on them?

So, in the space of about 30 Australian outback minutes we had: found out about the history of the town, met some very interesting travellers, met some jolly nice locals, seen how the village gets income from travellers, as there is little else to generate income in the town, and had a jolly good cup of coffee, in a beautiful (if not surreal) setting! Oh, and waiting 20 minutes in a short queue was no big deal at all, nobody was going anywhere quickly, and it was all part of Australian life in the outback.

So we jumped back in our campervan, refreshed and revitalised, drove for another two hours on a very, very, very straight road, until the next town and didn't see anyone on the way!!!

"This is Australia".