Friday at Penong Hotel

Penong is a small settlement in the far west of Eyre Peninsula (at least I think it is regarded as part of Eyre Peninsula). It is the last real township for 1000 km on the way to Western Australia.

I came to Penong on a Friday evening and got accommodation at the one and only hotel in town. As the battery in my digital camera had gone flat and the power adapter had been left in a hotel some 400km away I had a marvellous opportunity to shoot some black and white film.

The Front Bar in Penong Hotel

The front bar at Penong Hotel

There was also a beer garden at the hotel, where I had a chat with some friendly locals.

The beer garden at Penong Hotel

At the beer garden, Penong Hotel

I took some images of the pub from the street, but felt that these would have been better in colour. Since my digital camera was dead at the time, here is one of the black and white images.

Penong Hotel

Poochera Hotel Revisited

Having returned to home country I have had the opportunity to develop some of the film I took during my road trip. Yes, I carted around an analogue camera as well. It’s an entry model Canon SLR bought for next to nix on eBay. The shots here are all shot on TRI-X and scanned with a Reflecta crystal scan 7200.

When I stayed at Poochera Hotel I thought some of the interior would come out better in BW than color. In particular the dining room that was beautifully preserved from, well, perhaps folks from Down Under can pinpoint the epoch better than I. I thought it was very homely. More’s the pity that it was empty.

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

There was some beautiful items there. From the 50ies?

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

The front bar was almost as empty as the dining room on the day I was there.

Poochera Hotel, front bar

I stayed overnight at the hotel. The rooms were, as they usually are in country hotels, basic. They do serve the purpose for which they are offered: for the weary traveler to get some sleep.

Guest accommodation at Poochera Hotel

I do think that B/W captures the atmosphere quite a lot better than the color images I took.