Open-Door Policy

We'll Drink To That

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

These might look like the bat-wing doors from some Wild West saloon, but this is actually the entrance of the Ettamogah Pub in New South Wales, just across the border from neighbouring Victoria.

Every time we drive down the Hume Highway, we make it a point to stop off here - which in turn means that regular readers of this blog would recall at least three or four pictorial posts on the unique pub that is a real-life depiction of Ken Maynard's cartoons in The Australasian Post.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a two-day trip into the Outback, up the beautiful Riverina region of New South Wales. Yes, I had the GPS in the car with me, but I didn't plug it in, preferring to operate on the "turn left at the dead gum tree" school of navigation. (And no, I didn't get lost. Not once. Fair dinkum.)

I knew I had to turn onto the Olympic Highway just after the Ettamogah Pub, but it was one of those trips where photography held sway, not the clock. So of course I pulled off the Hume Highway to spend twenty minutes in a familiar part of the country. And yes, each time I photograph this amazing landmark, the light is different.

I had a yarn to Chrissy the barmaid while I was there, but there was one key question I forgot to ask her, regarding the front door. Next time we drop in, I'll ask her this: is it famous for being the easiest door to get in through but the most difficult to get out of?

I’d welcome any thoughts you might have …


For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.

Woolly Nelson

Hopelessly Devoted To Ewe

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Picture this: here I am, scooting along the Olympic Highway. Going bush, we call it. Leaving the bright lights of the city far behind and heading for the wide open spaces, of which there are many in this wide brown land.

I’ve just turned off the busy Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney. I’ve put about 300 kilometres on the clock and I’ve followed instructions to "hang a left" just after Albury. I’m on the grandly-named Olympic Highway, but it’s really only two lanes, one in either direction.

There’s very little traffic, so I use my peripheral vision to check for possible stop-and-shoot spots where I can safely pull off the road, grab the camera, take a few shots and then drive on again. The road is long but the day is even longer. Easy pace. No need to hurry.

I drive round a gentle curve and there is a flock of sheep, grazing right near a perimeter fence. Above them is a dead, bare tree against a largely blue sky mottled with low white cloud to the west.


Brain says "perfect Outback scene" and then a split-second later it tells me "ideal Camera Critters shot". So I slow down, continue round the bend to where it is safe to see traffic in either direction. Nary a vehicle. So I do a clean, efficient U-turn and drive back to where I saw the sheep. One more deft U-turn and I am right beside the boundary fence.

I grab my camera and get out of the car. My heavy-duty hiking boots crunch on the shale. I am looking down to make sure I don’t trip on the uneven ground. The undergrowth is thick but steady. I negotiate about twenty metres of tricky but not dangerous ground.

Then I look up. The sheep, curse their tim'rous hearts, have scarpered. There is now 50 metres between us. So these shots were the best I could do.


Check out the rules at Camera Critters or go to Misty Dawn.

Looking For A Sign

Forget Sightseeing, Let's Go Sign-Seeing

This week's Photo Hunt theme is "unique, funny signs". Yeah, I've shot a few of those in my time. From some very distant parts of the world, using a variety of cameras. So here we go .....

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

April 2005. Gold Coast, Queensland. Canon EOS 3000.

With my background in science and mathematics, I was intrigued by this huge street sign that pointed the way to Infinity. But there were no complicated calculations involved. Infinity is not a suburb, just the name of a nightclub. In order to get the perspective I wanted for this shot, I had to stand on a narrow median strip as puzzled drivers wondered what this crazy tourist was doing. I shot only one frame, because I figured I had nailed it.

May 1999. Juneau, Alaska. Ricoh Instamatic.

I shot this during an unforgettable cruise around the Alaskan ports. The Red Dog Saloon in Juneau has featured on my blog in the past. It has a great atmosphere, plenty of buzz and plenty of humour. This shot, taken in challenging light, shows an interesting piece of signage. The little trap says "Texas Bear Trap" and the huge one says: "Alaska Mouse Trap". In the early days of the Saloon, the owners used to send a donkey down to the wharf to attract tourists. The animal bore a sign that said "Follow my ass to the Red Dog Saloon."

You can read my teetotal guide to Alaskan pubs at Called To The Bar.


August 1999, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Ricoh Instamatic.

This is probably the most famous piece of signage anywhere in Australia. The highway sign showing camel, wombat and kangaroo contrasts beautifully with the white-grey bitumen and the crisp blue sky. Little did I realise when I did this Outback trip that I would place two chapters of my novel "Vegemite Vindaloo" slap-bang in the middle of this spectacular piece of the country I live in.


September 2006. Albury, New South Wales. Pentax K100D.

Clear blue late-spring sky. Bright red roof. Highly visible yellow signs. Does the one to the left of the TV aerial make sense to you? Does it? Really? Look again. It says "Keep Right, Mate" but the arrow points left. You can catch it at the famous Ettamogah Pub, where it is a famous landmark on the roof of a pub - along with an Aussue ute, or utility vehicle. The photograph below was taken at the same place on a stormy day last month, March 2008, and gives you a better look at the sign, through a 300mm Sigma lens.


It was harder shooting this against the dark clouds, but you can see the other sign more clearly than you can in the earlier shot. Loading Zone? On the rickety tin roof? Yeah, right! But remember - anything's possible in Australia.

September 2006. Albury, New South Wales. Pentax K100D.

This shot of the sign with the fake bullet holes was taken behind the Ettamogah Pub, near the souvenir shop. Just don't fight over it.

September 2005. Bala, Ontario, Canada. Canon EOS 3000.

I actually pulled up to shoot this photograph on a bridge over the beautiful Bala Falls in Muskoka, a region that figures in my forthcoming novel. Looks like just another sign, right? Now look at the image below, which is simply a cropped version of the original.


Despite the sign saying "Danger", there's a bloke on the rocks below the bridge, fishing in a spot he probably frequents all the time.


March 2008. Albury, New South Wales. Pentax K100D.

Remember the Queen in Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland"? The Queen who said the rule was "Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow but never jam today." This sign greets patrons (and countless tourists) at the Ettamogah Pub. And in case you think of returning the next day for several free cans of icy-cold Aussie-brewed Foster's beer, the sign will thwart you once more. It's always there!

Fright Attendant

Here's The Lowdown - You're Too Low Down

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Okay, gentle readers, you can breathe easy. This is not a real plane crash. It's simply an example of good old Outback gallows humour. This mock "accident" is a well-known sight at the Ettamogah Pub, on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne.


Ground control to Major Tom - you're grounded. Literally and metaphorically, that is. Looks like this plane needs a nose job. Hmmmm, let's take a closer look ....


He must have been coming in on a wing and a prayer - and obviously neither the wing nor the prayer was strong enough.


Here's what the scene in the control tower looks like. The sign down the bottom that is partially obscured by the foliage says: "Air safety is our concern - Crash somewhere else."

And if you're wondering about "Coolanhotta Air Control", it's a play on the Australian habit of running words into each other, so "Coolanhotta" is actually "cool and hotter". It's also a pun on the name of the Gold Coast airport, which is called Coolangatta.

Mate, if ya have to crash, there's no better place in the entire Outback to crash than next to a pub.

For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch Friday.

The Great Barrier Roof

A Tourist Attraction? Yup, We'll Drink To That

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Relax – it’s not really the scene of a plane crash. The downed ``aircraft’’ and the rickety pub can be seen at Albury-Wodonga, on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. The Ettamogah Pub is based on a fictional pub in a famous Outback cartoon series. It all started with a bloke called Ken Maynard, an Australian police officer who began contributing cartoons in 1958 to a magazine called `The Australasian Post’. His fictional ``Ettamogah Pub’’ - and its strong-jawed outback drinkers in their blue singlets and shorts - became so famous that someone had the great idea of reconstructing the pub in real life. Interestingly, the project posed a special problem for the architects because there were no straight lines in Maynard’s rendering! However, as you can see, the wonky pub is structurally sound. It is a huge tourist attraction – despite the sign outside that proclaims with laconic humour, ``Free Beer Tomorrow’’. The ute (that's Aussie-speak for a ``utility'' vehicle) parked on the roof is a wonderful touch, faithful to Maynard's series. And if you look closely at the first picture, you'll see the sign says ``Keep Right'' even though the arrow points left!