Lorikeet Lanes keeps a kitchen and a casino room in an old bond store
Lorikeet Lanes took over a bond store on 38 Macrossan Street that once held goods bound for the Hodgkinson goldfields; these days it holds seven tables of canasta, five hundred, euchre, crib and bridge, dealt by house dealers under the fans. There's no app for any of it and nothing online — every hand is played in person, at this address only — and the chips that cross the felt carry no stake, no cash prize and no real money at all. No poker machines stand anywhere on the premises.
What does an evening at Lorikeet Lanes actually look like?
“You know it's a good night when the last hand's still going after the tide's turned,” one regular says of the place — and most evenings here follow roughly that shape, first table to last.
Doors open at five. The fans start turning, the lamps go on over seven tables, and somewhere around the first quarter-hour the first guest of the night sits down to canasta or crib and the evening properly begins.
From there it runs its own course: tables fill, a second lounge picks up the overflow, house dealers keep the count at every seat, and the room slowly finds its rhythm for the night.
It ends the same way it always has, since the bond store's strongroom gave way to card tables: a last hand somewhere near one o'clock, chairs pushed in, lamps out, ready to do it again tomorrow.
What's cooking in the bond store kitchen
The kitchen at Lorikeet Lanes runs independently of the tables — a short menu, cooked fresh in the old bond store.
For dinner: pumpkin soup, then a beef stew with crusty bread.
For dessert, scones with jam and cream. A dinner-only table is booked separately.
Pumpkin soup
To start.
Beef stew
With crusty bread.
Scones
With jam and cream.
What's actually happening on the felt in our casino room?
Seven tables sit under slow-turning fans in what used to be the bond store's main hold, the old iron roof still keeping things cool after dark.
Canasta and crib hold the two tables nearest the door; euchre, five hundred and bridge rotate through the rest most nights.
A house dealer joins every table once play starts, so nobody's left working out the count alone halfway through a hand of canasta.
Seven tables
canasta, crib, euchre, five hundred, bridge
House dealers
keep score honest and walk newcomers through it
Second lounge
a cooler room for a break between hands
A look inside Lorikeet Lanes, table by table
How does play actually work here?
What happens if a guest doesn't know the rules of a game?
A house dealer explains the count and the basics before the first hand is dealt, so nobody's left guessing partway through.
How does the house decide who deals first?
The house dealer takes the first deal at a new table, then the deal simply passes around in the usual order for that game.
What happens if there's a dispute partway through a hand?
Play pauses, the house dealer hears both sides, and their reading of the count settles the matter before the hand continues.
Can a guest move from one table to another mid-evening?
Yes, once a hand finishes — a seat elsewhere is simply a matter of asking whichever dealer is short a player.
Is there a break built into the evening, or does play run straight through?
Most tables pause naturally between hands rather than on a fixed break, though the second lounge is there any time a breather's wanted.
What happens to the chips once the last hand ends?
They're counted back into the tray at the counter and reset for the next evening — nothing is cashed out or carried over.
Lorikeet Lanes, 38 Macrossan Street
38 Macrossan Street, Port Douglas QLD 4877
+61 7 4099 6217 · info@lorikeetlanes.com
Every night of the week, five in the evening until one.
What changes as the month goes on?
| Point in the month | What changes | On the tables |
|---|---|---|
| The 1st | a fresh page goes up on the board by the door | bridge pairs often claim the early dates |
| Around the 15th | the room tends to fill earlier in the evening | canasta and crib run side by side |
| Last Friday | the busiest night of any month | all seven tables full before six |
| The final night | the month's card is retired to make way for the next | a longer run of friendly poker to close it out |
What's expected before anyone takes a seat?
- Every guest at Lorikeet Lanes needs to be eighteen years old or over, and identification is checked at the door whenever a face looks anywhere near that line, with no exceptions made for anyone at all.
- Chips that cross the felt exist only to keep score for the evening; nobody buys them at the counter and nobody cashes them in afterwards, because not one of them is worth a single cent once play ends.
- Phones stay tucked away once a hand begins, and anyone expecting an urgent call during the evening is welcome to take it in the second lounge rather than at a table full of other players.
- A house dealer sits at every table from the first card onward, and any disagreement about the count or the rules in the moment gets settled by that dealer's reading of the hand, not by argument.
Lorikeet Lanes, counted out in four small tiles
Four numbers tell most of what matters here: how many tables, how many games, how old a guest needs to be, and what it costs to sit down. Nothing more to add.
Is there a seat left tonight?
No buy-in, and no bookings needed most nights beyond bridge on Fridays — a house dealer keeps a spot for latecomers whenever the room allows it, right up until the tables fill.
VisitEvery night of the week, five in the evening until one.
+61 7 4099 6217