Ph (02) 6563 2287

This is the only other cafe option on the island apart from Thompson’s General Store which only serves coffee in paper cups. Humpty Mick’s doubles as a kind of flash restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is also a bakery producing breads, pastries, cakes and slices of reasonable quality.

I gaze out through the glass doors past a screen of noble Norfolk Island pines and to the azure waters of the lagoon, to the magnificent mass of rock that is Mt. Gower, the tallest if the twin peaks on this dot of an isle on the South Pacific. I sit at a table set squarely on a hardwood floor. There are ten other customers on this late Sunday morning in May. My Lavazza long black is hot, maybe lacking in some punch, but acceptable by Melbourne standards.

White-painted walls, beige umbrellas, comfy cane chairs, chrome and stainless steel. Yep, my kind of place.

I have been here an hour and not one single car have I seen. A rack of bikes is out past the lone telephone booth. The Co-Op over the road is open. A three year old (with mother!) pushes a tiny tot in a pusher down the middle of the road.

Ph (02) 6563 2488

I relax in a good chair in this very pleasant establishment which performs functions of Information, History and Conservation as well as cafe (and restaurant at night). I am here at my usual midafternoon hour. Tables are partially filled. I notice that most chairs have names on their backs and am told that the names of the people mean they have donated the chairs. A nice touch, especially in a tourist precinct where the bland and the impersonal frequently blend supreme. There are are cakes, slices and other sweet offerings. Wary from past experience, I ask for a very hot coffee. The coffee when it comes is convincing enough in taste but lacks that heat, which disallows me the pleasure of contemplation over a cooling period. Nonetheless I commend this place for its ambiance and quality of its service.