FROM QNI T O T ORRENS CREEK

THERE is life after QueenslandQue l d Nickel. Lorna Rauth and her partner Alexander “Zander” Spencer took over Torrens Creek’s Exchange Hotel in November last year.

Lorna had been a scaffolder out at Queensland Nickel when she lost her job along with 800 others early last year when Clive Palmer’s Yabulu plant went down the gurgler.

Lorna didn’t go into mourning. Instead she started thinking about what she could do and now with Zander, a former barra and mud crab fisherman, they are turning around the fortunes of the Torrens Creek pub out there on the Flinders Highway 295km west of Townsville.

It’s a whole new experience for them, but one they are enjoying. They’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and are back to promoting the motel and camping accommodation.

“It’s a big change for us, but a good one. Some people think you buy a pub, sit back, drink beer and watch the money roll in, but it’s not like that,” Zander said, with an “I wish” expression in his eye.

They are waiting and hoping now that the State Government will step in and seal the last 27km of dirt on the Torrens Creek to Aramac road, opening up the Central West to the northern inland.

With the busy tourist season just about to start, they are glad that they have had a few months to learn the ropes about running a bush pub.

If you are going past call in and sample some first- class pub grub.