Aaaah, another day of birthday extras. One can never really get too much for ones birthday now can one?

So what would it be today? Jennee had something planned and well, lose lips sink ships eh so she wasn’t saying a thing… for at least the first hour or so.

First it was breakfast at Bangalow’s (very anticipated) newest eatery, The Italian Diner. A small breakfast menu, concise and to the point, but it still had what I needed. Today it would be the baked eggs with stuff. It was good baked eggs but it could have had just a little more stuff for me, I was looking for a big hit from the taleggio, pancetta and rosemary. Don’t get me wrong there was a hit, it just wasn’t the TKO I was looking for. Jen had the poached eggs with arrabiatta salsa and a side of mushrooms with caponata. Once again it was all good, but I think the arrabiatta salsa needed a little kick (I believe arrabiatta means “angry” in Italian and refers to the chilli heat. That’s what I believe anyway…). The coffee was great, so great in fact that Jennee had three. Yes three. It’s hard to find a good soy piccolo around the joint so when she does she grabs hold with two hands and gets ready for one hell of a jittery ride. All things said and done (and breakfasts eaten and coffee drunk) the place did damn well for somewhere that has only been opened for a week, a couple of little kinks to iron out and I’ll certainly be looking forward, as it is the best way to look if that’s which way you are walking. It stops you from bumping into heaps of things… no… I’ll be looking forward to it reaching the potential height it can. I am heaps keen to get back in there for lunch or dinner, as I think that’s where they are really going to shine*.

What’s next? Jennee lets it slip that we shall be going for a Thai massage. Yeah, that’s what I thought. A FREAKING THAI MASSAGE. This girl has really gone all out this year. This story is quite literally going to write itself. Honestly, this is a subject I shouldn’t be allowed to step near to… I immediately get my dark glasses and “shady guy” hat out and get keen for this “massage”. We arrive at our destination, immediately I am gob smacked that this “massage” joint was on the main strip in the middle of town. And another thing, it wasn’t full of fat businessmen smoking cigars and hiding in dimmed booths. No. This looked like a place of honest repute… and damn it, it was! We stepped into a curtained room where we received a massage. Just a massage. A damn fine massage, but just a massage. No sneaky reach around, just a really good massage…

Oh well, even with out the gratuitous ending it was damn fine.

The degree of awesome of this massage did indeed make me contemplate if an all day massage is a feasible option? I certainly wouldn’t want to be face down in the couch all day but I’m thinking you could get up every now and then, maybe for a meal, and you could still sit back on the couch and get a foot massage? And then back to the massage table for another couple of hours? I am keen!

But, as a very wise carnie once said (actually he was the wisest of all of the carnies. “Big chief the wisest” was his name), what goes up must come down… no. All good things must finish eventually. Yeah, that’s right, all good things must finish eventually… so we paid the fee of a bowl of rice and two dried fish and bid our hosts farewell.

Next stop; The Roadhouse, whiskey bar/cafe/restaurant/hipsters hang-out. Classic Byron Bay vibe right here. Skinny jeans, beards and tattoos… and that was just the girls. Jennee really didn’t like this place. She didn’t like anything about it; the cost, the lack of attention we were paid when we came in, the vibe, the whole lot, except possibly the location. She wanted to write a review but I thought it best that I handle this one… she’s a bit more opinionated then I am and I could tell a review from Jen was going to crumple and coffee stain the crisp starched blue collar shirt that is this blog. What the hell kind of an analogy was that?! Quickly, let’s move on.

A good steak sandwich and a nice spot in the sun was doing it for me. That and an injection of retro bohemian funk and I was done… almost.

Just a quick little walk through Byron and a little gelato from Jen’s favourite gelateria… and then just one more coffee before we grab the kids… that’s it. Birthday number two over, the mission a success, zero casualties, no sightings of Vietcong, returned home with full contingent.

Nice.

*Future Graz can confirm that because we went back through for coffee after lunch and the wood fired pizzas were looking the goods! I wanted to eat one. Actually I wanted to eat two but I was way too full to eat one so there was certainly no point in me ordering two… or one even… we just had coffee and left… slightly confused.