How to use an Australian hot plate?

Wherever you go to in Australia, you are guaranteed to see a hot plate barbecue. They are in almost every park, playground, campsite or close to rivers and beaches. You can even find them in the middle of Melbourne, along the Yara river. And, they are heavily used. Some are coin operated, many are completely free.

Australians love to go for a pick-nick with family or friends and the hot plate comes in handy. It took us a while to get started on them. I do not know why, maybe it had something to do that they call it a barbie, but it actually is a hot plate. For us a barbecue means grilling on coles, not a hot plate. So we were a bit confused as to what to put on them. But since it was on our 38-things we want to in Australia list we had to get over that.

Barbie instruction:

All you have to do is to find a nice location, bring your ingredients, press the button and off you go.

After you are done you clean it with water and wipe it off with kitchen paper so it is ready for the next hungry people.

The most common used food prepared on the barbie are sausages. But anything goes from bacon and eggs to garlic bread. We even saw a family fry rice on it, although keeping the rice away from the hole looked like a real challenge.

Bonus

If after a hot plate dinner you drive to a campground and you arrive just after sunset, this is what can happen:

Or this:

We are converted and absolutely love these hot plates. When we go camping or are off on a day trip, we fill our Esky (Aussie for cooler box) with frozen meat and shrimps and we are free to go and return when we want to.

Enjoy your weekend!