PUB OF THE MONTH
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It’s schnitzy Tuesday but this deep
fried special is sold out so there’s only
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some far off city) and lamb cutlets.
I’m trying to cut down on the deep
fried stuff so I go for the cutlets.
Which turn up quickly.
Deep fried. (Must be the standard menu
down that part of the woods if you take the
menu from last month! #58 – Ed)
After a day of luxuriating on the
serpentine roads of the Upper
Lachlan, I get to Gundaroo and it’s
still two hours until the Colonial Inn
opens at 4pm. I decide to just hang
ut, and post a shot
from the ride on FB.
Immediately a bloke in
anberra comments
hat he’s doing nothing,
m I sticking around
nd could I do with a
ride buddy?
Well ‘yes’ to all that so
I wait in the sunshine
for the pub to open,
for the sun to fall just
nough to enable a
ecent shot of the pub,
nd for Adrian to front
p. All three materialise
bout the same time
Adrian on his military
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head inside for a long awaited beer.
Choppie, the manager welcomes us
inside. He asks us where we’re from,
takes an interest in what brought us
here, shows us around the walls. He’s
proud of the place and keen to share
it. Pretty soon old Les Murphy turns
up. At 92 Choppie reckons, “he’s the
ceiling of our customers. We serve from 18
year olds to Les”.
Les arrived from Ireland’s County
Down in 1975, forever doubly grateful
that the gunman who took a shot at
him at the height of ‘the troubles’
was a poor shot. He resigned from
WKHORFDOSRVWRIÀFHWKHQH[WGD\DQGheaded to Canberra. His daughter and
son-in-law now own the Colonial Inn.
Les, too, has hands which are
expressive of a life well lived and he’s
happy to have them photographed.
He reckons Choppie is a top
manager and we agree but with the
arvo moving on, the Colonial not
having any accommodation and not
wishing to bump into any of our
crepuscular critters, Adrian and I head
out for the scenic ride through the
hills to the west of Lake George.
You know how, when you’ve left
the country and arrived in the bush,
the outback, the drivers coming the
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wave? How they just laconically lift
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kinda digital g’day?
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do the same thing with their drinking
hand when you walk in. Drink to
mouth, they’ll turn their heads, not
just eyes, and lift that same index
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welcome in their place.
When we head inside a couple of
locals are at the bar chatting with the
barstaff woman. The drinkers don’t
turn their heads, only their eyes followGundaroo Colonial – great pub- sadly no accommodation