The Caltex here on the F3 (southbound) is a great stop for us on our way down to Sydney, it's a good place to grab some fuel for the journey ( you never know if there is going to be a hold up on the motorway) and we can always grab a coffee, cold drink or some snacks to have *on the road*. They do have a lot of petrol bowsers and it's *pot luck* when you get there - you may get straight in or you may have to wait a few minutes. The Star Mart (shop) is great and it's full with pretty much anything you'd need on the road - including pet food, healthy snacks, ice creams, drinks, milk, magazines, lollies, chocolates, biscuits etc. Inside it's pretty meat and well set out and I find the staff quite friendly ad polite. :-)
On our way down to Victoria kids wanted to have a break so we stopped here. They have very good choice of food however very VERY dirty behind scences. After finding big piece (1cm2) of egg stuck to the fork I asked for clean cutlery only to find 0.5cm x 1.5cm white piece of old food stuck to the back of the fork...I asked for another set and it was better but some very unappetising marks all over knife and fork... By the way they pack those in a paper bag themselves by the looks of it so surely could have checked better. I ended up eating with plastic cuttlery which was fully sealed. Not coming back to this place to eat...should have gone to the restaurant next door. I really dont want to put food that was in someone elses mouth in mine and no one should!
I have a diesel car, and the F3 Caltex only has 'premium' diesel for car-bowsers - the 'truck' diesel (ie normal diesel) is only available in the high flow nozzles which don't fit most cars. The 'premium' diesel is also (conveniently) 2c/L more expensive than normal diesel. This was the first time I had seen 'premium' diesel, and when I asked at the counter what it was and why cars were effectively forced to buy more expensive diesel the response from the staff at the counter was aggressive and suggested I go somewhere else. I was extremely polite during the exchange - I simply was asking a question as it seems silly to be charged more for diesel just for driving a car rather than a truck.
