G'day George, Jennie, Foolestroupe (etcetera),

Fooles: I remember (back in the '60s to (~) the '80s that Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains behind Sydney had one "drugstore" ... possibly an early adaptation to the "tourist trade" aspects. There were serving counters on both sides of the store ... milkshakes, soft drinks and sweet foods on the left side, as you entered, and pharmaceuticals from the right-hand counter.

I didn't go there very often ... but they did nice hot chocolate, in the cold months - and ditto iced chocolate in summer ... but I rather went off chocolate around then, so I don't have much idea how much longer they were around.

Jennie: Soft drink and scoop of ice cream seems to have been a "Spider" almost everywhere in Australia ... except Sydney, where you only encountered them in lime flavour ... and called: "Ice Cream Lime & Soda". Down in Tassie they did a spider with a reasonable splash of rich local full cream milk ... and that was called a "Spider Royal".

Regards,

Bob