So… our final night has finally arrived. After leaving the Supreme Service Center in Craigieburn (Melbourne) we decided that we would break up the long drive home from Melbourne by having an overnight stay at one of the pubs that offer free overnight camping in exchange for buying a meal at the pub. These pubs can be found on a free subscription website called Country Pub Camping.

Originally we were planning to stay at The Riverina Hotel in Holbrook (where we had stayed once before) but since we thought we wouldn’t get away from Supreme until 3:00pm we decided on staying at The Plough Inn in Tarrawingee.

Tarrawingee

Tarrawingee is a small town (village) of less than 500 people not too far from Wangaratta and Benalla. It was ideal for our purposes because it broke up the drive home to Royalla and wasn’t too far off the highway.

The Plough Inn

The Plough Inn is a lovely country style pub that has a large parking area out front and a very large paddock out the back. Out the back is a small stable and a large beer garden area that adjoins the paddock area where caravans and campers are permitted to stay as long they are self contained.

We were allotted a space beside a tall tree in a beautiful grassy area that was relatively flat and quite level. In front of us was a massive olive tree that was bursting with fruit that were also littering the ground around it.

The olive tree looked about seven metres high with a very thick trunk at the base. I didn’t ask but I hoped that they picked the olives and brined them because they looked plump and juicy.

Inside the pub was the typical front bar where the locals were gathered for a Friday afternoon drink. The great thing about The Plough Inn was that they had a good range of local craft beers on tap. The had an XPA from Beechworth Bridge Road Brewery that we had visited a couple of years ago on a prior trip to Melbourne. The standout beer though was a Weiss beer from the Two Pot Brewing Co. in Yackandandah. It was a crisp, dry beer that was perfect for a warm afternoon after the drive.

The pub bistro was good honest pub food and chock-a-block with a Friday night crowd creating lots of atmosphere. They did muck up my order but that was OK because the food was good, the beer was cold and it was a nice way to spend our last night on the road before returning home

The Drive Home

Since we didn’t have to hitch up the next morning we had a nice bacon and egg breakfast in the van to use up the last of our eggs and get us ready for the last long drive home from Tarrawingee to Royalla.

The drive itself was fairly uneventful as it is pretty much dual lane freeway all the way to Yass and then a simple drive back into Canberra, down the Tuggeranong Parkway and out through Calwell to Royalla.

The only interesting event of the drive occured when when stopped in at the Service Center near The Dog On The Tuckerbox for lunch. We decided to have KFC and Jo was lined up waiting for our order. Rob went to a coffee kiosk close by and sat down at a table. Not long after sitting down two men approached the coffee kiosk and started speaking loudly to the lady serving there. The conversation became louder and then one of the men shouted at the lady calling her a profane name.

The man then picked up a sauce bottle dispenser and shaped up to throw it at the woman. At this point Rob and two other men at two nearby tables jumped up to approach the man who then threw the sauce bottle at the women (failing to hit her).

Rob confronted the man and ordered him to leave the premises immediately and with the assistance of the other two men effectively cornered the sauce thrower giving him no option but to back down and briskly walk towards the exit. One of the other men, at the request of the coffee lady, followed the sauce thrower and took down his number plate and checked that the coffee lady was OK.

With the incident finished Rob and the other men re-took their seats and everything pretty much went back to normal as though nothing had happened. Center staff then proceeded to talk to the coffee lady and make sure that everything was under control. Quite a bizarre incident to finish our trip.

Trip over… we’re now very much looking forward to our Grand Tour – Big Trip later this year when we head off around Australia proper…