Munger and Woobla

Munger and Woobla

Munger and Woobla

(These are Australian words to describe food and drink. Munger almost certainly came back from France with soldiers returning after the Great War and would be derived from the French word "manger" meaning "to eat". So, for example, if you had eaten on of Allan Buttenshaw's curries one night at the clubhouse, you might reply "Bonzer munger mate!" or not as the case might be.

The word woobla normally means cheap wine, often in flagons, but can be any type of alcohol. Typical usage would be "Have some woobla boss. Make you feel glad plenty quick." With wine in flagons being hard to come by and so much cheap, drinkable wine around at the moment, especially cleanskins, almost any wine can be referred to as woobla. Nick Singer, the club's CFI organises most of the reasonably priced woobla which is for sale at the clubhouse.)

Eating In

Just because you are a glider pilot (and maybe a half human-man at that) there is no reason not to eat decent munger. This is one we prepared earlier. 

The clubouse at LKSC is the centre of apres-gliding activities. Outside the clubhouse, there's a BBQ area, tables and chairs where people get together as the sun goes down to discuss the events of the day, often well into the night.

Inside the clubhouse, there is a full kitchen, fridges, a dishwasher, stoves and microwave ovens. Most evenings you'll see a lot of pilots engaged in experimental cooking of one sort or another. It's normal for one person to do the cooking and experiment on serveral others.

One club member commented that he learned most about flying around the big table in the club house, so it is a great place to be on a good night.

Provisions

The best plan is to go to the supermarket in Scone, Tamworth or Gunnedah before arriving and stock up with food. You can make a dash into Tamworth or Gunnedah to pick up what you have forgotten, but with a flight briefing starting at 9.30 and thermals starting on most days around 11.30, the days are fairly busy and you don't want to be spending your time in a supermarket when you could be in the air, do you?

The Kiosk at the Lake Keepit Caravan Park (3km away) is a source of fresh milk, bread and such food as you would expect to find at a local store. If you're you're not coming by car you'll always find someone making the trip for provisions.

Eating Out

Country Australia has not got the long tradition of food that continental Europe has. In most country towns, people expect to eat around 6.30 and the visitor can be surprised at finding the kitchens closed by 8pm. However this is changing, and while we are not going to see too many Michelin stars given to restaurants in the region, the munger is getting a lot better.

The Royal Hotel Manilla (aslo known as the Ian Duncan Home for Bewildered Single Men) (25km away) is always a favourite for a good dinner. It is the home away from home for many hang glider and paraglider pilots. Tom and Vic have been running the place for ages and always make flying people welcome.The Royal can get very busy on weekends when there's a competition on at Mount Borah. Phone on 6785 1017 to check what's on.

Another good place for munger is:

Park View Hotel Gunnedah (40km. Ph 422212?) Restaurant food at pub prices. Highly recommended. Expect to pay $10 to $20 plus excellent pudding. Open till 8.30 (and they don’t mind if you’re 15 minutes late if you let them know).

The pub is in Woolworth's Supermarket Car Park, and Woolies are open till midnight (or 9pm Saturday) so you can shop while you wait for dinner.

Tamworth is also a place where you can get good food. Increasingly cosmopolitain, there are more restaurants in Tamworth every month.