Country Hospitality

There is a difference when one transfers from the cities and large towns to the smaller places, the towns with less than 100 in population.

Lascelles

The town of Lascelles claims to have less than 50 people and this was recognised by us for a number of reasons, firstly the lack of services.
Everything is closed and I don't mean for the day I mean the shops are vacant. For someone to get access to government services or the bank or a loaf of bread, it is normally a drive into a regional centre. These places have not much more than a pub and in some towns, even that has closed.

Murrayville

The other more interesting thing we noticed was a friendliness that we have seen withdraw throughout Australia in our generation.  The pub in Lascelles when we walked in the door had a welcoming feeling that is not often felt.  Even though the bar girl was of Asian appearance, spoke with an accent and had blonde bleached hair, we could tell management, who have apparently owned the pub since the early 1900's, had coached her to their style of genuine Australian hospitality.

Our first stop this morning was Patchewollock, about 30 minutes drive from Lascelles. Katie and I
deliberately stopped here to view the silo art, as we were so impressed by the one in Lascelles. This one was not as impressive, but this just may be a personal preference thing. The portraits painted on Lascelles silos were sepia in colour and blended into the natural environment. This one was in bright colours and didn't seem to take in to account its surroundings. The silo art trail has breathed new life into some of our quiet towns, that without the extra traffic may become obsolete. We were there quite early, so, unfortunately, could not support the small local businesses. If you happen to find yourself in places like Patchewollock or Lascelles, drop into the pub and buy a beer or a coffee at the general store.

The next time we noticed this was in the town of Murrayville where we stopped for a coffee. We selected the small cafe on the highway as its slogan was "the ONLY place to stop".  It wasn't necessarily the staff of the cafe that was the standout, but the local farmers that would pull up in their utes out the front.  All of them looked at us with interest, gave a wink and a g'day. We of course replied and then most were on their way, inside to discuss the football from yesterday.

It is times like these that show the Australia of the past still exists to some extent, and the Australia of the future where we live, is and no doubt will envelop this, just as washboards were replaced by machines and maps by Satnav.

Our first stop this morning was Patchewollock, about 30 minutes drive from Lascelles. Katie and I
deliberately stopped here to view the silo art, as we were so impressed by the one in Lascelles. This one was not as impressive, but this just may be a personal preference thing. The portraits painted on Lascelles silos were sepia in colour and blended into the natural environment. This one was in bright colours and didn't seem to take in to account its surroundings. The silo art trail has breathed new life into some of our quiet towns, that without the extra traffic may become obsolete. We were there quite early, so, unfortunately, could not support the small local businesses. If you happen to find yourself in places like Patchewollock or Lascelles, drop into the pub and buy a beer or a coffee at the general store.

Lascelles

Lascelles

Patchewollock

Patchewollock

There is little to see on long stretches of roads like these in the Mallee however, we did notice the changing of the soil and sand, and in just a few hundered meters it could be almost white, bleached by the sun and then transposed to a deep brown.

Tomorrow we will explore Renmark, have some Almonds.  Oh did I mention it is currently 23 degrees here on the edge of the river Murry and blue skies all around.

Blogging in Renmark - South Australia

Katie has also been keeping a count and to this point we are up to 8, any ideas what she could be counting?