Sandlewood Op Shop

I have two words for you...vintage kitchenware.

Did that just make you a little bit intrigued? Did you lean forward in your seat just a tad?

What about Vintage linen?  Perhaps vintage hand embroidered linen? And all the profits will go to disadvantaged members of the community. That's guilt free spending in my books.  It's recycled and it's helping a worthy charity.

Sandlewood opshop is an entirely not for profit organisation (which means that absolutely no one working here draws a wage at all) that has been created to assist people in crisis situations by providing them with basic start up kits needed to set up a home.  It may be pots and pans, cups and plates...all those things that are necessary for day to day living.  Sandlewood also helps out many other areas in our community (RSPCA, Children's hospitals, educational grants)

When I asked how someone like me could best help them, the answer was an emphatic "Come in here and shop".

The least you need to know: Sandlewood Op Shop is on Beaudesert Road (on the service Road/Avison Street) in Moorooka.  You can buy plenty of vintage treasures here from 70's iron-on patches to bric-a-brac. There's a wall of good quality fiction and non-fiction books. Plenty of men's, women's and children's clothing that's arranged in sizes. All staff working here are super friendly, I once watched one of the volunteers help someone get decked out in a 70's outfit for a costume party for under $30
The opening hours are 9-5 Monday to Friday and 9-11.30 am on Saturdays (though I've visited at 2pm on a couple of Saturdays and they were still open).  If in doubt, then your best bet is to give them a call on 07 3277 3521

Treasures....vintage treasures

Vintage suitcases. I visit at least once a week and there's always loads of new  things here to buy

Vintage hand-embroidered linen.  The last time I shopped here I bought 6 linen pillowcases, all hand embroidered for $9 a pair.  Some were in their original packaging. 

More vintage kitchenware.  

This is the front of Sandlewood. Seriously, it's like Narnia in here. Just when you think there's no more little nooks that you could possibly investigate, tucked away in a corner you find an adorable silk and cotton skirt for $6

Sirromet Wineries

Now I'll admit the standing joke at my last job was that my perfect career would be as a tour-guide of budget places around Brisbane "Cheap-arse tours presents...", but there's just one place that I've been to many times and never regretted a single cent of the (mostly sizeable) bill.  That's Restaurant Lurleens at Sirromet Wineries down at Mt Cotton.

I love many things about this place, the architecture, the views across to Moreton bay, the service but I return for the food.  The menu is filled with local produce, I'm sure that it's helping local farmers stay afloat in this crazy mass produced world.  You also get extremely generous portions for your money.  I've visited for Breakfast, morning tea, lunch and dinner and have yet to walk out the door feeling anything but perfectly content

If you're after a less expensive excursion, you can take a tour of the winery and wine tasting for $20 per person.  If you'd just like to have a wine tasting, you can sample up to 8 wines for $5 at the Cellar Door. I don't drink but I imagine you could have a very pleasant day sitting outside sipping wines and sharing a cheese platter

The least you should know: Sirromet Wineries are at 850 Mount Cotton Road at Mount Cotton, about 30 minutes south of Brisbane. Make sure that you make a booking before you head down because this place is very popular

The entrance to the Wineries and Restaurant Lurleens

It was quite a rainy day, but it seems to add to the feeling of being in a friends country house

The main meal sizes are generous. I usually order two entree sizes instead of an entree and a main, just so that I might be able to have dessert as well

Restaurant Lurleens

The cellars underneath the restaurant. One of my friends got married in here, which would have been incredible.

Coorparoo Markets

The Coorparoo markets consist of two floors of shopping in the old Myer Centre at Coorparoo.  The bottom floor is a farmers market, with a variety of stalls (some permanent and some temporary). It seems as though every time I visit I'll find one of my favourite small producers there (maybe an olive farmer or a specialty baker perhaps), just with a table in the middle of the markets.  There are quite a lot of fruit and vegetable stalls, a butchers selling meat that they farm themselves,  a couple of bakeries, a few delicatessens, a wine shop and even an aquarium selling gold fish 

The upper floor, which is actually on ground level, has clothing stalls, bookshops, even a pole-dancers supply outlet. To be honest, this section isn't terribly exciting to me. I'd much rather see either some locally made hand crafted items or that it's ridiculously cheap, but this doesn't seem to fit in either camp.

The least you should know: Coorparoo Markets are at  300 Old Cleveland Road Coorparoo and run from Thursday to Saturday 7am – 6pm and Sunday 7am – 2.30pm.  It's free to get in and you can park in a carpark on the top floor (the entrance is on the Old Cleveland Road side) or on the street around the markets.

This stall specialises in organic produce and is always really fresh.

This is the stand that belongs to the Saint coffee roasters.  They've spent years making clean skin coffee for other people and now want to give something back to their growers by making a name for their own brand. This is seriously good coffee, as you may no doubt realise by the empty shelves.  They also have a stand selling cups of coffee, so you can try before you buy. I'm also completely addicted to their hot chocolate blend called African Cacao ($10 for 350g). 

Heinz meats has a shop on Stanley Street at Woollongabba that has been  around since 1983.  Since I'd never visited the shop before because it's so difficult to park at the Gabba, it's a really smart move for them to have an outlet here. They'll pretty much chop of a piece of anything for you to taste, the only problem was coming home with $40 worth of cold cuts that we lived on for the next week..wait...what problem?  It was fantastic!

These are a couple of the stalls on the upper/ ground level.  It's well worth a wander, just to see what you can find

The Tip Shop- Acacia Ridge

Now, I'm in no way suggesting that this place is for everyone, rather just for those of you who are (like myself) gleaners or maybe restoration artists (which I know that I am not) or at the very least considering your environmental footprint and trying to reuse and recycle while helping out a charity.

The Brisbane Tip Shop at Acacia Ridge sells all kinds of furniture, books, electrical goods...you name it it's no doubt been here for sale at some point at incredibly low prices.  I was there at about 2.30pm on a Sunday afternoon and everything was half price.  They had a vintage lounge chair for sale for $5, which means that you could take it home for $2.50.  Mind you, it had a missing cushion and desperately needed to visit an upholsterer but it did have a solid, nicely carved wooden framework.

The down side is that everything has been salvaged from a transfer station, which is a polite way of saying that it's from the dump. All money raised goes to support the very worthwhile charity The Endeavour Foundation

The least you need to know: The Tip Shop is at 46 Colebard Street West, Acacia Ridge in an industrial estate directly across the road from the Speedway (which is definitely going to prompt another adventure soon). It's open from 8am - 4pm Saturday and Sunday only.  There were signs up saying that they'll only hold items until 4pm Sunday and then they go back on sale again, so make sure you have some way of getting your treasures back home with you.

Yup...a boat..I was walking around rubbing my eyes a lot. There was even a shed full of golf clubs and bags, I imagined some disgruntled golfer after a bad game driving straight to the rubbish tip to ditch his clubs.

I got a bit excited about the bikes (on sale at $25 each), until I saw how rusty they were. I imagine if you were clever you could recondition them, sadly I am not so there they stayed 

Surf ski's and renovation stuff.  There were quite a few nice sinks as well (laundry and bathroom)

This is inside the warehouse. My sister, bargain-hunting expert that she is, found an incredible retro dresser here for $5

 A whole room full of books. There was a man sitting on a chair reading every title and filling up a bag full of his loot.

A piano, I've no idea how much this was, but I can't imagine it would be very much

Kelvin Grove Village Markets

The reason I started this blog was to encourage people to go be a tourist in your own city.  We tend to have a spirit of adventure when we're on holidays somewhere that just diminishes somehow when we're back on our home turf. I'm at least a third generation Brisbane girl (3 of my grandparents were born in West End, well before it became the expensive piece of real estate that it is today) and I'm constantly surprised at how much I have to discover about my city.

This morning I headed over to the Kelvin Grove markets. I've never visited these markets before and it's surprising how timid you become...oh...what if I can't find a park...how should I dress...but it was all so very easy.  The markets were apparently quieter than usual probably due to the rain clouds looming overhead, so it was actually a pretty good morning to go check it out.  There are Christmas night markets being held on every Thursday night (3-9pm) all through December 2010, which I think would be fantastic to go visit.

The least you should know: The markets are on every Saturday from 6am - 1pm.  They are held in Blamey Street, Kelvin Grove (the road is blocked off and turned into a little market).  Admission is free.  Dogs on leads are welcome.  Parking is available on the streets around the markets.

You can see the road in this shot.  This was taken at about 7.30 in the morning, which is a good time to beat the crowds and the December heat.

This is Mei Yen Chua, editor of the fantastic book 'Brisbane's Budget Bites' . Seriously...this is essential reading for all you Bris Vegas Folks. I once picked up a copy in the Avid Reader bookshop and found a restaurant about 10 minutes walk from the end of my street that I didn't even know was there. After I visited this restaurant, I raced back to Avid Reader to buy a copy...you won't regret it!  http://www.brisbanebudgetbites.com.au/index.html

I love Mexican stuff and there's a profound lack of it in Brisbane....imagine my delight when I came across the Ixchel Imports stall. I bought a Frida Kahlo magnet for my fridge, 12 hand-painted Mexican tiles ($10- bargain!), one of the key hooks at the front of the stall and a Day of the Dead mirror all for the grand sum of $37  I think it's worth the trip to KG just for this stall alone. I have the owners card if anyone would like contact details (I just didn't want to broadcast it over a public forum)

These tomatoes are all heirloom varieties and you can mix and match for $10 a kilo. I bought a little brown paper bag full that is going to turn into a salsa for dinner.  I must be still be feeling a bit Mexican after all the bright colours of the last stall

Gluten free fruit mince pies.  Yum!

Another South American stall, this one is from Peru

West End Markets

The least you need to know:  These markets are held at Davies Park at West End, every Saturday from 6am until 2pm. I like getting there before 8am because it gets incredibly crowded.  Parking is always a bit of a challenge, but you can park in at the football grounds for $3 which I think helps the club to fund raise (though I haven't actually asked anyone this, I just think of the man who takes my money as being associated with the footy club).  Entry to the markets is free and you are guaranteed a wide variety of Australian made, hand crafted items from leather bags and wallets to skin care.  The food is pretty incredible here too, you'll find super fresh organic fruit and vegetables, butter, cheese, pasta, meat and seafood, artisan breads...the list goes on.
These are one of my favourite markets to just wander about soaking up the atmosphere. I always tend to take much longer than I had allocated to shop here because it's just so friendly.

The day I took this picture  it was quite drizzly and it really felt like this market had just sprung up in a rainforest on the banks of the Brisbane River. As I took this, a flock of birds flew overhead, shrieking and it seemed as though everyone stood still for a moment just enjoying the wild life

This is the gypsy spice caravan.  Coffee and Hot Chocolate with spices (chili, cinnamon, nutmeg) , so good...

I love these market bags, this stall sells all kinds of homewares and bags that have been made in Africa.

Not a terribly inspired photo, but seriously you have to try these unwaxed apples and fruit from Stanthorpe. You can try before you buy and I've never once been disappointed.

The Chilli Patch sells fresh and dried herbs, recycled timber bird feeders ($10 each- bargain!) and the most amazing proteas right now, this photo didn't do the colours justice.
They have a webpage here

I love this stall. Handmade soaps and skin care...the smells as you walk past are sublime