Funny thing about Thrumster. First time we got an order there, must've been 2010 from our , maybe 2011, Andrew rings me up. "Where the bloody hell is Thrumster?" she goes. We're both looking at maps, well, he had a street directory, I had Google Maps on the computer, and neither of us could work out if it was its own suburb or just... part of Port Macquarie but further out. Turns out it's both, sort of. About 10 minutes west of Port Mac, past the Hastings River, all these acreages and rural properties. We found out later that the order came through our Port Macquarie page.

These days we send flowers to Thrumster at least twice a week. Usually it's someone in Coffs or Sydney sending to their parents who moved out there for the space. Or the quiet. Though honestly, with all the development happening around Sovereign Hills and that area, quiet might be relative now.

How Your Thrumster Flower Order Actually Works

Right, so you order flowers for Thrumster delivery on our website. What happens next... well, your order pings through to our system, we check which of our Port Macquarie partner florists can handle it. We've got three main ones we work with there, been with Kathy since 2008, she was one of our first actually, before Lily's was even properly Lily's. If Kathy's shop is out of white lilies that day, or she's slammed with Mother's Day orders, the order routes to our next partner, maybe the one near Settlement City.

> Learn why we went online after having a shop

The florist makes your arrangement that morning. Fresh. Not like some operations where flowers sit in a Sydney warehouse for three days then get trucked up overnight. Our Port Mac florists get their flowers from the markets, some even grow their own natives. They know what lasts in the Thrumster heat too, which, trust me, matters when you're delivering to a property with a 500-metre driveway in February.

The delivery bit for Thrumster can be interesting. Our drivers know the area now but... addresses out there are more like suggestions. "Lot 42" doesn't help much when there's no visible numbers. We've delivered to "the property with the alpacas" and "second dirt road after the old church." One driver told me he spent 20 minutes looking for a house that turned out to be behind another house, down a track you wouldn't even notice unless you knew.

Timing and All That

Same day delivery to Thrumster works if you order before 2PM on weekdays. Saturdays, yeah, we can do it but limited runs. The drivers usually hit Thrumster in the afternoon run, after they've done the Port Mac hospital and CBD deliveries. Makes sense logistics-wise but... we learned the hard way some people need their flowers by lunch for surprise birthdays. Now we ask.

Actually had this one order, must've been late 2013 when I was still answering the phones. Customer rings up, needs flowers delivered to Thrumster by 11am for her mum's 80th. Big family lunch thing. We made it happen but it meant sending a driver out special. Cost us an extra $25 in delivery but sometimes you just do it. The thank you email we got... yeah, worth it.

> View our 80th birthday flowers

Look, we've been doing this since 2009, properly anyway. Started in our Kingscliff shop, now we're still in Kingscliff but no shop, just online. Still making decisions over dinner while the kids argue about whose turn it is to stack the dishwasher. We've got over 800 partner florists now but Port Macquarie, and by extension Thrumster, was one of our early areas.

The Feefo reviews thing, we've got over 21,000 now, most people seem pretty happy with their flowers. Even the Thrumster deliveries, despite the whole finding-the-house adventure sometimes.

> Read all Lily's Florist reviews

Prices for Thrumster delivery start at about $42.95 for a basic bouquet, but honestly most people go for the $75-$85 ones. Unless you want something massive or delivered at a specific time window, then we might need to chat about extra charges.

Just order online, pick your flowers, chuck in the delivery address. Or ring us. Our team in Armidale answers the phones, they know Thrumster, they'll sort you out. Though if you say "deliver to the old Smith place," we might need more details than that...