Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Caiguna Roadhouse International Airstrip Bar




Well the Caiguna roadhouse International Airstrip bar was officially opened on the 23rd of October 1999 by the honorary member of the Caiguna roadhouse checkout chicks BECKY. The Airstrip bar was not operated inside the roadhouse but out in the bush beside the Caiguna airstrip (hence it's name). The main clientèle was the checkout chicks, cooks, petrol pumpers, truckies and the occasional lost copper. The bar consisted of an old abandoned caravan next to an old dumped falcon. It had a couple of seats a B.B.Q and an old table.
The Airstrip bar's usual entertainment was bush bashing races between the Holden Gemini and the Yellow Datson (whenever the Datson had wheels on it). And when the Royal Flying Doctor came flying in to say G'day. The closing time was usually after sundown as the bar had no lights except for the headlights of the Gemini.
Unfortunately when yours truly and Tania left the roadhouse the Airstrip bar fell into disuse and finally closed its doors. You can still go and have a gander at the old caravan and its mate the Falcon but it's all B.Y.O now. Gone is the Gemini, gone is the Datson, and the colorful characters that sat around the campfire at night drinking and telling yarns.
As another part of Australian History closes i'm sure another opens. In another place somewhere in the Australian outback these other blokes and sheilah's with there own little unlicensed watering hole. Drinking, chatting, and just having a beaut time. Living the life of the ruggerd outback characters that Banjo Patterson was so famous for writing stories about.
And as you sit back on the Falcon with a beer in one hand and casting your eyes over this hash countryside, a thought comes to mind. A saying that was made famous by a Legendary Australian who once said..... You can smell the Serenity......