G’Day Team,
As more and more towns get bypassed by highway upgrades (sometimes by a mere 2-6kms) fewer and fewer roadside camps are available. Sure you can find 24hr layovers alongside a line-up of semi-trailers, but sleeping in your caravan, car or camper in a roadside rest area after a long day on the road isn’t ideal.
Back in the day, the overnight (or longer) long haul was the Cobb and Co Coach. They stopped at the numerous Inns and Taverns that supplied fresh horses along their route. In those times, travelers relied on these pubs for respite - a home made meal, a bed for the night, fellowship, perhaps live music and to catch up on local and regional news.
These days, we might take a quick stop for fuel or a coffee in a local town, but our rigs have the capacity to take us 800km in one day (or more if you’re not following fatigue management guidelines). Meanwhile, many of the towns that are now bypassed are really suffering.
In response, many are ‘reinventing’ themselves. Pub licencees are looking to harness their unique character and history in order to draw travelers off the highway. A great option offered by many is the ‘Free Camp’ sites in the historic grounds of their old pubs. Some offer hot showers, communal fire pits and a place to sit back, relax, and soak-in the ambiance. And all of them offer a feed.
Which goes to show. Just because you don’t want to sleep by the highway in a carpark, doesn’t mean you have to attempt to reach your destination in one long-haul jump. The dangers of driving while fatigued are too well documented to make this a sensible option.
So, why not make the journey the destination? … Take a lesson from our forefathers and stop-over night in a pub. You’ll be doing yourself a favor and you’ll sure as eggs be helping out a local business. Especially in regions where drought has struck hard and rural people are struggling more than ever.
After all when was the last time you drank an ale or ate a meal in a pub that once served Henry Lawson or bush-rangers Ben Hall and Captain Moonlight? We had that pleasure today at Coolac’s Beehive Hotel.
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