FOR the owners of a humble Culgoa pub, it’s more than just serving a counter meal and tap beer.
The Kaneira Hotel is also a place of rest and relaxation for passing travellers on the Calder Highway, and the heartbeat of a town populated by just 80 people.
And such is the welcoming atmosphere, the watering hole was recently nominated in the Grey Nomads Awards in the category Best Grey Nomad Pub Stay in Australia for RV road trippers.
Publicans Martin and Leigh Schoonderwoerd didn’t take home the gong, but toasted the national recognition.
Mr Schooderwoerd said it’s the free campsite with bathroom and toilet access adjacent their hotel that drew visitors to their pub.
“We’ve always wanted to provide a free camping space from the beginning and we wouldn’t have bought the hotel if we couldn’t do that,” he said.
The Schoonderwoerds have always wanted to run a business but after one of their ventures fell through, they went back to the drawing board.
“We looked all over Australia for another business – hotels, motels, supermarkets,” Mr Schoonderwoerd said.
“And then we found this place.”
“And at the time, Leigh and I did not have much money, but this seemed to be just within our grasp.”
“So with the skin of our teeth and luckily a loan from my parents, we were able to secure this place.”
The couple expect the unexpected with their job.
They recalled the time an eccentric squatter known as The Muscle Man settled in their camp.
“A middle-aged man who came and stayed for three weeks,” Mr Schoonderwoerd said.
“He had The Muscle Man written on the side of his car. I was out of the back pulling out weeds and he said, ‘Excuse me, can I stay in your camp?’
“I said, ‘Of course’. I thought he might have had a tent or something, but he started pulling out all these suitcases from his car to sleep in it.”
According Mr Schoonderwoerd, the man travelled farm to farm and gave massages to sheep shearers, hence the name.
Mr Schoonderwoerd realised the man might have fallen on hard times, but the guest assured him he was just “houseless”, not “homeless”.
Not even nights of heavy rain could move the “houseless” man.
“We thought that sleeping in the rain would have made him leave and he didn’t. We had to call services to help him out,” Mr Schoonderwoerd said.
The couple often attend to big groups of tourists and host an “after harvest party” for local farmers.
Last year, about 50 harvesters turned up unannounced due to a fire ban halting work.
After running the venue for eight years, the Schoonderwoerds have decided to sell up and become grey nomads themselves.
“We want to go to all the little country towns like Culgoa, or even the less populated ones, and visit and support every single one of them like they have supported us,” Mr Schoonderwoerd
“We also want to go to as many pubs as possible and have a pub meal in every single one of them.”
Before they load up their own suitcases, they have plans to install an RV dump-point, after seven years of advocating for one.
Mr Schoonderwoerd said that the dump-point would make Culgoa an RV-friendly town.
Dump points receive wastewater and liquid waste from caravans and other vehicles with mobile toilet and sanitation fixtures.
