Chris and I were up at Mapleton on the Blackall Range (Sunshine Coast hinterland, Queensland) when I noticed a garage selling discounted petrol at under $1.30 a litre. I pulled in and Chris put $20 worth in the tank. I was prepared with my saved Woolworths receipt (over $30 spent) in my purse as I went up to the counter.

“Will a Woolworths voucher be alright for the discount?” I asked the heavily tanned and bearded Australian (not a lady!).

“No, sorry,” the man said shaking his head.

“Coles?” I asked. I had a Coles receipt too (it pays to be prepared).

“Nope,” he smiled.

“Well, how do I get a discount?” I persevered.

“Just spend a bit of money in the shop,” he said dryly.

It seemed he didn’t mind us leaving the car at the petrol pump while we did some shopping at the garage, which we thought was rather quaint.

“Let’s buy some bananas – they’re only $2.50 a kilo,” I suggested.

A few minutes later we returned to the petrol checkout with our receipt for a kilo of bananas (a girl served us at the grocery counter).

“How’s that? Good enough?” I asked, giving the bearded man my docket.

He looked at it and chuckled to himself.

“Is that alright?” I asked.

“Well, you’re supposed to spend $30 but I don’t suppose my boss will give me the sack – I’ve been working here for eight years,” he said with resignation.

Then the man produced a small package and placed it on the counter.

“Oh!” I said, thinking it was for me, “What’s that?”

“It’s my pie!” piped up the chap standing behind me.

Still laughing, we left the shop and got into the car, at last vacating the spot at the petrol pump.

Before long we reached  Mary Cairnscross Reserve and rainforest where first we stopped at a picnic table to have our lunch. Three bush turkeys fought for position on the area around our table and, ignoring Chris’s protestations, I answered their pleas with crackers and the fat from around the ham.

Some time later we were on a path deep in the rainforest when we met a very tall middle-aged lady accompanied by half a dozen children of primary school age. We guessed she was a child-carer, perhaps associated with a larger group we had come across earlier.

“Did you see anything in the forest?” asked a precocious little boy wearing a big sunhat.

“Oh, do you mean wildlife? I responded.

“We saw a snake,” he nodded.

“Oh no, we haven’t seen anything like that, but we were looking out for the small red wallabies we saw last time we were here. To be honest,” I turned to face the tall lady as I spoke, “my eyesight isn’t quite as good as it was…”

“Me too!” exclaimed the lady in her very deep voice. “My sight has got so bad that when I was in my paddock recently I thought I saw my little dog and I called out, ‘Darcy, come here boy. Darcy, come here!’. My daughter said, ‘Mum, why are you calling Darcy?’ And I said, ‘Because he’s there in the middle of the paddock.’ ‘No, Mum,’ she said, ‘that’s not Darcy – it’s a magpie!”

The children didn’t think it was as funny as we thought it was. On our own again a little while later Chris and I spied one of those red wallabies and a reptile – not a nasty snake but a lizard dozing on a log.