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Nearly three months after the flooded Darling River forced the closure of the Tilpa pub, the hotel is back to serving the community.
Key points:
- The pub closed in November after the Darling River flooded the area
- There was no structural damage to the building after the levee held
- A multitude of animals and insects needed clearing out after the owners returned
Publican Phil Mahoney, his wife Sharon and the rest of the township evacuated the area in November after the massive water body broke its banks.
The river eventually peaked at just over 13 metres that same month.
Mr Mahoney said he and his wife were able to return to Tilpa two months after being forced to shutter the establishment.
However, given the clean-up job required around the venue, they were unable to reopen immediately.
Upon returning Mr Mahoney discovered a host of critters and creepy crawlies had decided to make the building their home.
"The amount of spiders and frogs and snakes and hornets," he said.
"You can't believe it, there was just a hornets' nest everywhere you looked.
"It doesn't take long for a place to become a ghost town because there was just spider webs everywhere, they had taken over, golden orbs."
Glad to be back
The bush publican said he was thankful the levee built by the community had held, which saved the building from sustaining any structural damage.
Mr Mahoney said his thanks was also shared by the community, who were keen to revisit their local watering hole.
"They were keen as, they were coming through paddocks to get here," he said.
After spending their two months in limbo in their camper trailer, the husband and wife said they had been ready to return to the hotel.
Despite being out of pocket for two months, Mr Mahoney is confident the coffers will fill again when the tourism season kicks off later this year.
"We'll catch it back up again once everyone gets back on the Darling River run," he said.
"The Menindee Lakes are full so there should be a few people poking around this year."