Nothing but the Pub

(If you enjoy this yarn, please think about hitting the 'subscribe' button. It's free and you'll get two stories each week about the great pubs of the Australian bush.) I’m in Barcaldine and ring Chris the publican at the Yaraka Hotel. It’s pumping down rain and the police are saying both roads in are impassable for anything other than powerful 4WD’s and that the bike won’t make it through. I was hoping to be there in the morning, but there’s no utes for hire in Barcy or Isisford or down at Blackall so there’s a problem. “ Stay where you are and I’ll ring you back within the half hour .” I ask Noeline at the Railway for another lite and she’s hardly handed it over when my phone rings. “ If you can get yourself to Isisford early tomorrow morning, I can get you a lift. Ken’s the publican at the Golden West hotel and his son’s been wanting to take a trip down here for a while and he’s free tomorrow.” I leave the beer untouched and head for the door....

When Ben Reusch arrived in Meningie in 2015 on his fourth hotel resuscitation mission the town’s pub was on life support. “This was my biggest challenge. There were pigeons living on the verandah and in some of the upstairs rooms, the bottle shop wasn't working because the roller shutter door was jammed and there were nine full-to-the-brim 30 cubic metre skip bins out the back including one with 28 broken televisions.” He attacked on two levels: Upstairs he replaced all the broken windows, turfed out the pigeons upstairs and made the eight guest rooms liveable. They are now all air-conditioned, with fully screened windows and the common room has a fridge, microwave, toaster and makings for your morning brew. Downstairs he fixed the roller door, replaced the beer pipes and the carpet, fixed the plumbing throughout and gave it all a fresh coat of paint. There’re now eight beers on tap and the re-furbed dining room serves dinner every night and lunch Wed to Sun. A ...