ROYAL HOTEL, MT HOPE
RATED 4 OUT OF 5 HELMETS
Royal Hotel
Kidman Way Mount Hope NSW 2877 Ph: 02 6897 7988
SO WHEN I rock up to the Royal at Mt Hope, Super Ten’s ambient temp gauge is showing 43C. It’s somehow fitting that at the end of a scorcher in the middle of our dog days of summer I’m met by a blue heeler resting in the doorway of the pub.
Down the side, two women are having a durry in the cool shade beside the outside dunnies. The dog gets up, grabs a battered soccer ball and sits back down.
And looks at me, then at the ball. At me and then the ball. It’s not some guard dog weighing up my threat to its home. It’s trying to sort out whether I’m a player.
I’ve seen that look before. From a hundred dogs in five score pubs. It’s not a look to be ignored!
So I walk slowly up with eyes averted from the heeler at the doorstep. And do my best Tim Cahill
