The local cafe

Having settled into our holiday house, one of the first items on the agenda is find our 'local' cafe. Whether we're in the area for a day, a weekend, a week or longer, it's always nice to feel like you belong somewhere.

Let's have a look at the options where we're staying at the moment before we pick our favourite, shall we?

This cafe's been around for a while, opening originally in 2011. I'm not big on purple*, and it looks a little ladylike for my tastes, so let's move on.

The Transport Cafe opened the same year, and is more my style, but may be a bit utilitarian for a holiday pick. I'm sure there are other options in town...

Pavilion on the Park is set in a vintage VERO Zerlegbar house, and has been managed by the current owners since 2013.

It's a lovely spot to visit for an ice cream or light snack on a sunny day, but feels too touristy to be a real local haunt.

Now the Buzz Bar Cafe is more like it. Although it only opened in this form in 2013, it's already renowned. It's buzzing (sorry, couldn't resist), the coffee's great, the staff are friendly and treat you like a regular even if it's your first visit.

Next door a new cafe is under construction, but it doesn't look like much has happened there for quite a while...

Here's another contender. Good Brother Cafe is funky and seems to do a mean brunch (always important on our list of priorities!)

On the other hand, this place looks very ordinary, like something you'd find at the mall, where they serve 'expresso'. And it's quite empty...

Down a laneway we stumble across Hideout Cafe, a small hole-in-the-wall place which looks intriguing.

(And is apparently open into the evening, which is quite rare in cafes around here).

I think we've found our top three, but we'd better just quickly check the other options in case we're wrong, don't you think?

It looks like we were right: the only other two cafes in town are both in the mall: one is fake rustic and tucked into the corner of a public area, so feels very exposed to passers by.

 And the other is a sickly-sweet cupcake cafe.

Both seem popular with local business people, which is definitely not the vibe we're after on holiday.

Looks like we've made our decision! Good Brother for brunches. Hideout for afternoon coffees and evening drinks. And Buzz Bar Cafe for pretty much everything.

Now is it coffee time?

(*And not just because it's a complete beast to photograph correctly...)