Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Interview with Holly Thom, Nurse turned business owner from Surat, Outback Queensland.
8 Plays4 months ago
Today we are in Outback Queensland with our friend Holly Thom who we met recently on our trip to the Maranoa region. Holly was raised in the local pub which is also the local hotel, many people may not realise these are often the same place in country towns across Australia. As a teenager Holly moved to the coast to study and gained a Diploma of Nursing at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital where she graduated and went on to work in Acute Surgical and Rehabilitation for 2 years. However, the country was calling Holly back and aged 23 she became a business owner, owning part of the New Royal Hotel and motel, the local Timber Crate café and also the Surat Cabin and Caravan Park, which both Maxi and I now know are the heart of the community. Holly has a passion for people as we saw for ourselves so enjoy this chat with Holly and hear her amazing story and a glimpse into what life is like in the country.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Mission
00:00:10
Speaker
G'day, I'm Trent Maxwell.
00:00:11
Speaker
And I'm Lee Mason.
00:00:12
Speaker
And we want to welcome you to our Live, Learn, Survive podcast.
00:00:16
Speaker
Since 2018, Lee and I traveled the globe and met face-to-face with 31,000 children in six countries across three continents.
00:00:22
Speaker
We created a series of award-winning children's books, a global online education program, and are founders of the Live, Learn, Survive charity, all focused on teaching children and young adults life skills that will not only help themselves, but help others too.
00:00:32
Speaker
We're on a mission to spread awareness about fire, water safety, and first aid education to inspire the next generation of first responders.
00:00:39
Speaker
So join us for the next half an hour with some fun, inspiration and kindness and we'll try and learn something too.
Guest Introduction: Holly Tom
00:00:44
Speaker
How are you this week, Lee?
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome aboard.
00:00:47
Speaker
Maxie, I am good.
00:00:49
Speaker
How are you?
00:00:51
Speaker
I am great.
00:00:52
Speaker
It's a special week again.
00:00:54
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:00:55
Speaker
One of our favourites.
00:00:55
Speaker
And the guest.
00:00:58
Speaker
So it's very exciting with this guest.
00:01:00
Speaker
We met this guest a couple of months ago and we are excited to have a chat because being in this certain part of town, I come across that she was the boss of the town.
00:01:11
Speaker
So we're excited.
00:01:13
Speaker
Without further ado, introduce our guest, Leigh.
00:01:16
Speaker
Exactly, because we love nothing more than a girl boss, don't we, Maxie?
00:01:21
Speaker
Anyway, so today we are joined from Outback, Queensland by our friend Holly Tom, who we met recently on our trip to the Maranoa region.
Holly's Background and Community Impact
00:01:31
Speaker
Holly was raised in the local pub, which is also the local hotel, which many people out of Australia may not know.
00:01:38
Speaker
that often the hotel and the pub are like the same place in the harder town.
00:01:43
Speaker
As a teenager, she moved to the coast to study and gained a diploma of nursing at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, where she graduated and then went on to work in acute surgical and rehabilitation for two years, a nurse.
00:02:00
Speaker
What a star.
00:02:01
Speaker
But for Holly, the country was calling Holly back.
00:02:05
Speaker
At age 23, she became a business owner, owning part of the New Royal Hotel and the Motel, the local Timber Crate Cafe, which we loved, and also the Surat Cabin and Caravan Park, which both Maxie and I know, they are literally the heart of the community out there in Outback Queensland.
00:02:24
Speaker
Holly has a passion for people, as we saw for ourselves, and when she's not doing this,
00:02:29
Speaker
She's quite happy getting out on the road as a solo traveller.
00:02:33
Speaker
So let's give Holly the warmest of welcome to our podcast, share her amazing story and learn a little bit about what life is like out in the country.
00:02:42
Speaker
Holly, welcome.
00:02:45
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me.
00:02:46
Speaker
It's so good to see you guys again.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, Holly, it's great to see you.
00:02:50
Speaker
And again, a big thank you for looking after us a couple of months ago when we did our recent trip.
00:02:55
Speaker
And we look forward to having this chat.
00:02:57
Speaker
It was an amazing time.
00:02:59
Speaker
It was short but sweet.
00:03:01
Speaker
I think we were actually in town just over 36 hours by the time we worked it out.
00:03:07
Speaker
But we felt so welcomed and so at home and we always leave with friends and here we are.
00:03:15
Speaker
So I think for people in Australia and also Australia,
00:03:20
Speaker
people outside Australia knowing what it is like in the country, in Australia, in the outback, this is going to be a really special chat.
00:03:29
Speaker
So thank you for joining us.
00:03:32
Speaker
So shall I start with the first question,
Life in Surat
00:03:35
Speaker
Maxi?
00:03:35
Speaker
Yes, go for it.
00:03:35
Speaker
Get straight in it and hear from the most important person.
00:03:39
Speaker
Holly, I kind of gave it away in the bio.
00:03:42
Speaker
We met you recently out in Surat in rural southwestern Queensland.
00:03:47
Speaker
How long you lived out there?
00:03:49
Speaker
What is that part of the world to you?
00:03:52
Speaker
This is home to me, always has been, always will be.
00:03:55
Speaker
I was born in Roma, which is only an hour away from Surat, and then I moved here when I was four.
00:04:00
Speaker
I'm 23 now, so I've been here for a while.
00:04:03
Speaker
Obviously moved to the Sunshine Coast for three years.
00:04:06
Speaker
But as you said in the bio, it was calling me back.
00:04:09
Speaker
It's my hometown.
00:04:10
Speaker
It's a tiny town for you guys to know.
00:04:12
Speaker
Like those who don't know, it's population 400 and less probably by now.
00:04:17
Speaker
But yeah, it's home and it's a magical place out here and I don't think anything can beat it.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
And I think I love that you actually gave the population then, Holly, because I was going to say, you know, like, yeah, I think for people around the world listening to this to a town of 400 people is is very, very tiny.
00:04:40
Speaker
So an incredibly special community.
00:04:43
Speaker
So amazing.
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, I just got to add on to that too, being out there, seeing and meeting some of the locals, you know, being a first responder, meeting a local firey, Derek the local firey, meeting the local police officer and having a chat to the locals.
00:05:02
Speaker
It was a really good vibe and you could tell how much you love the place and look forward to talking a bit about it.
00:05:08
Speaker
more about it through this chat.
00:05:10
Speaker
So rolling to the second question, you are quite busy as we just spoke about.
00:05:15
Speaker
Can you tell us what it's like running a pub, the hotel, the cafe and everything else in between?
00:05:22
Speaker
It's definitely a lot more than I thought I was bargaining for.
00:05:26
Speaker
But like, obviously I grew up in the pub.
00:05:29
Speaker
I started working at the age of seven, but completely different to now owning it.
00:05:35
Speaker
Completely different.
00:05:36
Speaker
Cause like, obviously I would just do the, you know, the front of house stuff, the serving, when now I'm doing the background, you know, the invoices, the accounts, the banking, like all the extra stuff involved.
00:05:45
Speaker
Oh, yes.
00:05:47
Speaker
So there's a lot more involved than people think.
00:05:49
Speaker
And obviously people being, oh, it's a small town, you know, you must be so quiet.
00:05:53
Speaker
No, like when you guys were there, you know, we were fully booked out from Monday to Friday, like, you know, with workers, like we're constantly busy.
00:06:01
Speaker
But I love it.
00:06:02
Speaker
It's, yeah, it's something completely different, something I didn't think I would actually end up doing, obviously, because I went into nursing.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:08
Speaker
but I love it.
00:06:09
Speaker
I love the community.
00:06:10
Speaker
I love the people.
00:06:11
Speaker
And it's just, it's so great.
00:06:12
Speaker
Plus I love meeting people.
00:06:13
Speaker
I'm a big people person.
00:06:14
Speaker
So it's the best place for it.
00:06:16
Speaker
Didn't you just have the Cobb & Co?
00:06:19
Speaker
Wasn't it?
00:06:20
Speaker
Did I see something?
00:06:21
Speaker
Was it this weekend?
00:06:23
Speaker
Last weekend.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:23
Speaker
That was last weekend.
00:06:25
Speaker
It was huge.
00:06:26
Speaker
So tell us for people listening, tell us what, what that was all about, Holly.
Community Events and Business Ownership
00:06:31
Speaker
Because it'll give them an insight into where you are and where the town sits.
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, so where the Cobham Co Festival was just, it was the 100th year.
00:06:44
Speaker
So it was a big reenactment of the last male run.
00:06:47
Speaker
So how they used to do things back in the olden days where they would have the carriage and the horse ride.
00:06:52
Speaker
They would have like the ranges and the horses and stuff like that.
00:06:54
Speaker
So it was a big reenactment.
00:06:55
Speaker
We had 3,000 people in our town, which I don't even know how our town managed to handle that many people, but we did it.
00:07:03
Speaker
And I'm so proud of all the staff and all the helpers that we had because big shout out to everyone.
00:07:07
Speaker
It was an amazing weekend.
00:07:09
Speaker
People came from Brisbane, from New South Wales, from Victoria, like people come all over the place for it.
00:07:14
Speaker
So it was a big thing for our community.
00:07:17
Speaker
And it was just so good to have that.
00:07:19
Speaker
And I think we're putting Surat on the map slowly, which is really good.
00:07:23
Speaker
But it was, yeah, it was so important to our town because it was part of our history.
00:07:27
Speaker
It was part of our culture.
00:07:28
Speaker
And to reenact that and to...
00:07:29
Speaker
you know, even for the young ones to see what it used to be like, it was amazing.
00:07:34
Speaker
It keeps the tradition going too.
00:07:36
Speaker
You said the young ones, it keeps that, that, that,
00:07:40
Speaker
fire that light burning within the young people to keep that tradition alive because it is such a, we were lucky enough to do a meet and greet across the road from the pub at the Coppin Co Community Centre and I actually wandered off and had a look in the museum part of the building and there's so much history.
00:07:58
Speaker
You've got the natural history, talking about the Surat Basin, about, you know, millions and millions of years of, you know,
00:08:06
Speaker
changes and fossils and gas and all these things and then you talk about in the last 150 years um how they used to do things and it's it's it's mind-blowing and cob and co was the mail-run company wasn't it they were the company
00:08:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:08:22
Speaker
And so we saw the coach in our museum.
00:08:25
Speaker
I don't know if you guys saw it, but that's where we keep the coach.
00:08:28
Speaker
So they, you know, they brought that out.
00:08:29
Speaker
They brought all the horses out and they, yeah, they actually like people posted mail and they would put the mail on the coach and then send it to Yorba, which is probably, I think it took them three days.
00:08:40
Speaker
So that's what it used to take compared to now.
00:08:41
Speaker
It probably takes an hour.
00:08:43
Speaker
So big difference.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:47
Speaker
I love hearing that.
00:08:48
Speaker
And a lot of these country towns do have a lot of that history and it's good to hear that it's still alive.
00:08:53
Speaker
But I'm just going to go a little bit off topic here.
00:08:56
Speaker
Do you have a favourite between the pub, the cafe, the caravan?
00:09:00
Speaker
Do you have a favourite role that you like to do other than the other?
00:09:04
Speaker
That's like asking her a favourite child, Maxie.
00:09:06
Speaker
It's like people ask me, do you like being a firefighter or a lifeguard?
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
That's a hard one.
00:09:14
Speaker
I love the bar side of it because, you know, you get that fun, you get that banter, you know, you have the customers that you see, you know, every single night come in and then they come in Friday night, they have a big one and you make fun of them the next day about it.
00:09:26
Speaker
So I do love the pub side, but then the coffee shop, you also meet so many lovely travelers through there and it's such a beautiful place and so different to the pub.
00:09:36
Speaker
in the area and the environment as such.
00:09:38
Speaker
So I'm all coffee shop.
00:09:42
Speaker
I think I'm going to go with coffee shop.
00:09:44
Speaker
I love both of them.
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
You know, the coffee shop and the gift shop.
00:09:49
Speaker
If we had some great gift shops in there.
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
Local, local produce and local locals putting stuff in that shop.
00:09:56
Speaker
So it was awesome to see that as well.
00:09:57
Speaker
And I think as well, like, again, for people, you know, we get those people like overseas that listen to this.
00:10:03
Speaker
An Australian country pub, it's not like you would imagine an English bar.
00:10:09
Speaker
The family are in, the kids are in, the fire was roaring, the TV is on in the corner.
00:10:16
Speaker
It is like the meeting place, isn't it?
00:10:18
Speaker
It is literally...
00:10:20
Speaker
you know the heart of town and um and the kids come in and the dogs in and you know what i mean it is like the um the lounge so it's not like a grown-up it's a very family friendly place isn't it holly and that's what we aim like we aim to make it feel like a place away from home you know like you can go out and you can dine you can have a lovely dinner but like you still got the fireplace you still got the warm nature of the staff like the familiar faces like and this town's just
00:10:47
Speaker
one big happy family pretty much like everyone knows everyone so it's such a great community it's like catching up with the family isn't it it's like you know like you say you can come for a meal or you can just come to say hello to somebody you know yeah brilliant brilliant so we're going to take you back a few steps um because nursing we we um you stood in nursing tell us about your uh little uh journey with nursing
00:11:14
Speaker
I loved nursing.
Balancing Nursing and Business
00:11:16
Speaker
It was obviously, you know, everyone's going to struggle with it, with the journey of learning.
00:11:21
Speaker
And there's obviously parts with nursing that no one can ever prepare you for.
00:11:25
Speaker
And so, you know, the pretty side of things, um,
00:11:29
Speaker
But nursing was such, it was a really good journey for me, really.
00:11:33
Speaker
It was something that I wanted to do for a while and I'm glad I've done it.
00:11:37
Speaker
But it was a beautiful thing to just, and it's not for everyone.
00:11:41
Speaker
You know, I've had a lot of people be like, oh, like, you know, nursing, I love it.
00:11:45
Speaker
And then other people, you know, they really don't.
00:11:48
Speaker
But there's only so much that, you know, the journey can prepare you for when you actually enter the real world of nursing and you actually go onto the wards and you deal with the
00:11:57
Speaker
unfortunate side of like patient losses.
00:11:59
Speaker
But then, you know, when it came to the good stuff and just seeing your patients completely change for the better is just, yeah, a journey that you can never forget.
00:12:07
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:12:09
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:12:10
Speaker
And there's a question, the next question is asking what was your favourite thing about nursing?
00:12:16
Speaker
Did you have a certain role that you enjoyed doing while you were nursing?
00:12:21
Speaker
With nursing?
00:12:23
Speaker
What I did, so we obviously, as Leah mentioned, I worked on the acute surgical rehabilitation ward.
00:12:28
Speaker
So we dealt with a lot of people who had multi-trauma incidents or like motorbike accidents, car accidents, a lot of people with strokes.
00:12:38
Speaker
So they would come into...
00:12:40
Speaker
They wouldn't be able to walk.
00:12:41
Speaker
They would have to relearn how to eat, talk, drink, walk, all the basic stuff, you know, and it's such a life changing event for them.
00:12:50
Speaker
And to be a part of that change was such a wonderful thing.
00:12:54
Speaker
And like to see them.
00:12:56
Speaker
you know, five months later on the track, they're walking on their own two feet out the doors and you're saying goodbye to them.
00:13:00
Speaker
It was such a beautiful, beautiful moment.
00:13:04
Speaker
That would always make up for the bad part of nursing, you know, like, you know, not every job has, every job has its downfalls, but yeah, to watch those patients walk out of the doors when you saw them be wheeled in through a wheelchair and just to be that
00:13:19
Speaker
Like it's such a hard part to try and relearn all that stuff and I can't even imagine how difficult it would be for them.
00:13:24
Speaker
But to be that little bit of happiness and joy in some of the darkest days, I have no words.
00:13:30
Speaker
It was beautiful.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:32
Speaker
It was so good.
00:13:33
Speaker
Like I can't imagine what their days were like, but just to be that little bit of joy or that little bit of happiness or that encouragement that they needed to get them through that day, it's such an important role, I think.
00:13:43
Speaker
I think you nailed that answer with that question.
00:13:47
Speaker
So thank you for sharing, Holly.
00:13:49
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:13:50
Speaker
Absolutely brilliant.
00:13:51
Speaker
So now that you're back in Surat, do you think you would ever go back to nursing one day?
00:13:59
Speaker
You've got a whole long career ahead.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, it probably won't be full-time, obviously, with the stuff that I've got going on at the moment with the businesses.
00:14:10
Speaker
But I do hope to occasionally chuck in a few shifts every now and again.
00:14:13
Speaker
I've currently got no time on my hands for it, but I'm working towards that because it was a part that I love.
00:14:18
Speaker
And, you know, having that degree, I don't want to just lose that, obviously.
00:14:22
Speaker
Well, you do have the hospital in town as well.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:27
Speaker
Yes, which we drove past a few times.
00:14:29
Speaker
So you do have the hospital in town that, you know, if you want to go back casually or part-time, it's good to have those options.
00:14:36
Speaker
I don't know how you'd fit all that in, Holly.
00:14:38
Speaker
Can you imagine?
00:14:39
Speaker
So, like, where's Holly?
00:14:40
Speaker
She is now the nurse.
00:14:42
Speaker
She's the publican.
00:14:43
Speaker
She's running the coffee shop.
00:14:44
Speaker
She's down in the – there's a situation in the caravan park.
00:14:47
Speaker
It's like – I'm going to get you a cape.
00:14:50
Speaker
You are a superwoman.
00:14:51
Speaker
I've got a good idea.
00:14:52
Speaker
Maybe add a sick bay or like a –
00:14:57
Speaker
a quick uh that's probably not a bad idea definitely gonna get to two o'clock in the morning and i reckon a fair few have had enough i'll be like hey off to the sick bay i'll look after you in the morning i was gonna say there's probably all that's already that unofficial corner of the pub maxi that is called this yeah just put them in the corner we'll lock them up and throw a blanket we'll lock up and throw a blanket over them we'll be back in the morning so um brilliant brilliant well that actually kind of leans into the next question
00:15:24
Speaker
Have you got any crazy stories from being a manager at the hotel slash pub?
Humor and Stories from Pub Management
00:15:29
Speaker
I know that you mentioned a little story while we're having coffee on our last day.
00:15:33
Speaker
Anything you can share on there.
00:15:35
Speaker
Anything you can share on here.
00:15:37
Speaker
I know there's probably a few locals in the town to this podcast, but is there a story that, you know, a couple of stories that you can share?
00:15:46
Speaker
I obviously won't share the story.
00:15:50
Speaker
you know, inappropriate ones.
00:15:51
Speaker
But I mean, I don't know what this pub hasn't seen.
00:15:54
Speaker
Like there's probably been everything that shouldn't be in a pub has been in the pub.
00:15:58
Speaker
Like we've had a guy ride his Harley through the pub and he did burnouts on our carpet, which is why the carpet's half worn out.
00:16:05
Speaker
And we had a guy drive his car through the pub because he was picking up the girls from the formal and it was raining outside and he didn't want them to get wet.
00:16:12
Speaker
It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen.
00:16:15
Speaker
So he drove his car through the pub.
00:16:17
Speaker
He had a male drive his, he was,
00:16:19
Speaker
quite intoxicated um he rode his horse into the pub poured himself a beer and then just walked straight back down i don't know what much we haven't seen to be honest we've we've accidentally locked a patient in the uh not patient a customer that's my nursing friend we've accidentally locked a customer in the pub and then he calls me at three o'clock in the morning like oh holly where is everyone i was like oh we closed like two hours ago where was he under the top
00:16:45
Speaker
He was asleep under the pool table.
00:16:48
Speaker
No idea he was there.
00:16:49
Speaker
It's just stuff that you wouldn't get in the city because, you know, we're just so relaxed and laid back, maybe a little bit too much.
00:16:57
Speaker
But yeah.
00:16:57
Speaker
But how good are those stories and those memories and things that you can look back on?
00:17:02
Speaker
You know, you're 23, you're still young, you've got a lot of time ahead.
00:17:06
Speaker
Right.
00:17:07
Speaker
Can you imagine, it's like me when I reflect back on the 19 years as a lifeguard or 18 years as a lifeguard and nine years of fire.
00:17:13
Speaker
You think about, people go, what's the craziest story or what's this?
00:17:16
Speaker
And you think about certain things.
00:17:17
Speaker
Sometimes things get lost and forgotten.
00:17:20
Speaker
Then a story or a situation will trigger and you tell the story and you're like, wow, there's some definite stories in that place.
00:17:29
Speaker
And even talking about the start, being a boss lady, having, telling grown men
00:17:36
Speaker
to get out of the pub and not come back because they're being silly.
00:17:40
Speaker
You know, hearing some of those stories, honestly, hats off to you.
00:17:43
Speaker
They don't take it too well.
00:17:45
Speaker
I don't know if any lady has ever tried to kick a grown man out of a pub, but they don't handle it well, but it got done eventually, so.
00:17:54
Speaker
So cool.
00:17:54
Speaker
Please tell me, Holly, that you keep a diary because one day please write the book.
00:18:01
Speaker
That's actually really good.
00:18:04
Speaker
You should do that.
00:18:07
Speaker
I might have to start that because this, and like even just some of the questions that we get asked and like the stuff that people tell us, it's just like, you couldn't,
00:18:15
Speaker
You couldn't think of it for the world, but then yet someone next day asks you this question or tells you something, you're like, you would not believe it.
00:18:22
Speaker
But, yeah, I really should look into doing that.
00:18:25
Speaker
Please, like, if you don't journal, get a diary, get a journal, and just literally please write the funniest thing of the day down because one day we'll come and write this.
00:18:38
Speaker
It'll be a big book.
00:18:40
Speaker
It'll be a very big book.
00:18:41
Speaker
It'll be, like, I'm thinking already it'll be one girl who,
00:18:44
Speaker
The pub, the cafe, the hotel, the caravan park.
00:18:51
Speaker
One pub, one cafe, one caravan park, one girl.
00:18:55
Speaker
That's it.
00:18:56
Speaker
I love it already.
00:18:57
Speaker
Turn it into a script and who knows, it could be a TV show or a documentary of the place.
00:19:02
Speaker
It would be pretty cool too.
00:19:04
Speaker
Mad Max meets Mad Surat.
00:19:07
Speaker
So brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
00:19:10
Speaker
So is it me next, Maxie?
00:19:14
Speaker
I always get mixed up here.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yes, it is.
00:19:16
Speaker
Number seven.
00:19:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:17
Speaker
So we're just talking about all these businesses in small country towns, a population of 400.
Challenges of Small Town Business
00:19:23
Speaker
How can people support small businesses in country towns like yours?
00:19:30
Speaker
Most of country towns, they really do rely on their locals.
00:19:33
Speaker
That is such, obviously a big part of us, like without, you know, if we didn't have the pub and the coffee shop, you know, and that support from the locals, the town has nothing, you know?
00:19:42
Speaker
So we really do rely on that support from locals, but like for travelers, even if you just,
00:19:47
Speaker
come through, have a coffee, leave a review, spread the word.
00:19:50
Speaker
Like there's been a lot of travelers, definitely with the Cobb & Co Festival, that was last weekend.
00:19:54
Speaker
We've had a lot of people be like, oh, you know, we don't normally stop through, but someone suggested it.
00:19:58
Speaker
So we popped in and we love it.
00:19:59
Speaker
Like, you know, it only just takes that one, you know, spread a word and then next minute you got two more followers.
00:20:05
Speaker
So like it's just spreading the word and, you know, getting it out there, stopping in, buying a coffee.
00:20:09
Speaker
You don't have to buy a gift where, you know, we don't expect you to spend a
00:20:13
Speaker
all this money but just saying hello and I'm always happy for a chat so yeah absolutely I think that exactly you know the you know you get into a small town and there are a few places you can probably buy your coffee but buy it from the small business buy it from the local don't buy it from the multinationals and all the you know go and meet the locals I wouldn't say that all the time
00:20:35
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:20:37
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:20:38
Speaker
We were actually speaking to one of the ladies that works in the local council chambers there in Surratt and she, I'm pretty sure it was New South Wales, country of New South Wales that she lived or maybe it was Tamworth or somewhere, but they went on a trip around Australia and randomly one of the riders took them through Surratt and they stopped off to have a chat and have a feed and drink and stay overnight and
00:21:02
Speaker
they fell in love with that place within the 12 hours that they were there and they went back and moved there six months later.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
It's a magical place.
00:21:13
Speaker
The sky seems huge.
00:21:17
Speaker
It's just, yeah, it was, it was, um, I can see why people, um, you know, come for a little while and end up staying.
00:21:25
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:21:27
Speaker
Well, I know you've probably had your fair share of stressful situations, being in your previous working life as a nurse and now running a pub, hotel, cafe, all sorts of different things.
00:21:42
Speaker
What has been the most stressful part of the journey so far?
00:21:49
Speaker
I would probably say, and it's probably my own doing, but the expectations from others and that I put on myself as well, I think it's probably been the most stressful part.
00:22:00
Speaker
Like obviously my parents ran it for 19 years, which is quite, you know, a long time.
00:22:04
Speaker
You would get a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge over that 19 years where I've only been doing it for past, you know, eight months now.
00:22:11
Speaker
So like I still got a bit of catching up to do, but I put a lot of expectation and pressure on myself.
00:22:17
Speaker
to try and keep up to that standard.
00:22:19
Speaker
So that's probably been a bit stressful because like, you know, I'm obviously doing things my way now, not their way, unfortunately.
00:22:26
Speaker
And, you know, so I get a lot of feedback, which I love feedback.
00:22:32
Speaker
But, yeah, I think it's just a bit stressful to me only because I'm trying to keep up with what they're doing, keep up with the standards from everyone else.
00:22:40
Speaker
But then also try and set my own track and also set in my own name and have my own
00:22:45
Speaker
path that I'm doing.
00:22:46
Speaker
So I do things differently, but it's, there's many stressful things about it.
00:22:52
Speaker
Like whether it's customers or,
00:22:54
Speaker
You know, the background part.
00:22:55
Speaker
But, yeah, it's been okay, though.
00:22:58
Speaker
That's good.
00:22:59
Speaker
Again, looking at you now, you're still smiling.
00:23:02
Speaker
You know, it's all part of the journey.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:06
Speaker
And the first year is always, like, the hardest.
00:23:09
Speaker
And then before you come around, you think, oh, you know what, we did this again last year or whatever, and you've just, you know, it does get easier.
00:23:18
Speaker
And like you say, I think always is the biggest pressure you put on yourself.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
And we always say to people too, with Live, Learn, Survive, every day is a school day.
00:23:29
Speaker
You're always learning.
00:23:31
Speaker
So don't be too hard on yourself.
00:23:32
Speaker
If you make a mistake or if you actually don't know something, you shouldn't put the pressure on for you to expect to know if that, if you actually never been taught it.
00:23:42
Speaker
So,
00:23:43
Speaker
I'm a learner by doing things and seeing things.
00:23:46
Speaker
That's my best way of learning.
00:23:47
Speaker
So sometimes, you know, throwing yourself in the deep end like you have in the last eight months, you know, I'm sure it gets easier and better.
00:23:54
Speaker
And you've got to have new challenges and face different things over the next few years.
00:23:59
Speaker
But it's just how you handle it.
00:24:01
Speaker
And that kind of leads us into the next question, Lee.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:04
Speaker
So how do you deal with that stress?
00:24:06
Speaker
How do you look after Holly?
00:24:07
Speaker
Yeah.
Managing Stress and Career Advice
00:24:10
Speaker
I have to completely de-attach myself.
00:24:13
Speaker
Like if there's a set, like in the moment, it's kind of just a matter of like whether I'm dealing with like a stressful customer or stressful situation, like in the moment, it's kind of just literally breathing through it and just pushing it out.
00:24:26
Speaker
But like afterwards, I have to completely de-attach myself from that situation and whether it's go for a drive, put on music or something physical, but I need to stay
00:24:35
Speaker
get my brain because I feel like stress is a mindset, you know.
00:24:39
Speaker
I think it's a lot more mental than it is physical.
00:24:41
Speaker
So if I can change that mental into something physical, then I'm normally pretty good.
00:24:46
Speaker
I just need to change what I'm doing, how I'm thinking, and then change it to physical and I'm normally pretty sweet.
00:24:54
Speaker
You know, I was really interested to your answer there as well, Holly, because there's unless you go out of town,
00:25:03
Speaker
work is in front of you, behind you.
00:25:06
Speaker
You can't walk out the pub because you're in the coffee shop.
00:25:10
Speaker
Your work is all around you.
00:25:12
Speaker
So, you know, I was really interested to hear that because, like, you know, when you're in the city or you're not in somewhere that's so sort of, you know, regional, you can go to, you know, as many other places you can go.
00:25:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:30
Speaker
You're going on a road that is like literally, you know, you, you know, so I was curious to know what your answer was going to be for that because I sometimes go walk about to Carindale or so I go to a Westfield or go and have a look at like, you know, and I didn't know whether you might say, you know what, I go to Roma where no one knows me for a few hours, but then it's like, can you even go that far, you know?
00:25:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:54
Speaker
You know, so I think music is always a brilliant answer as well.
00:26:00
Speaker
I think anything that just changes or just switches your mind off, like even if it's reading or just something that distracts you from whatever's stressing you out.
00:26:08
Speaker
So normally reading or music or just something to take my mind off it.
00:26:12
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:26:13
Speaker
Brilliant answer.
00:26:15
Speaker
Um, taking it way back now, did you get good career advice at school?
00:26:21
Speaker
Being at school, did you get a bit of a support?
00:26:24
Speaker
Did you get support to kind of go into nursing, to business, running a business?
00:26:31
Speaker
I think, well, mainly like probably personal, but like we got a lot of career advice where I think we kind of at that age, and it still blows my mind how they expect you to have it all figured out by 18, but, um,
00:26:45
Speaker
I think a lot of people that give advice and you have so many people in your life telling you, Oh, do this.
00:26:50
Speaker
Or what are you going to do?
00:26:51
Speaker
Or what career are you going to take?
00:26:52
Speaker
And you have so much pressure on you when all you really need is support.
00:26:56
Speaker
Like, I think at the end of the day, you know what you like, you know what you enjoy.
00:26:59
Speaker
You kind of have an idea of what career path you want to head down.
00:27:02
Speaker
You just need that person to be like, you know what?
00:27:04
Speaker
You can do it.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:05
Speaker
It's fine.
00:27:06
Speaker
Like you don't necessarily like, um, I got a fair bit of, um, advice on to nursing with nursing, but,
00:27:15
Speaker
pub wise I had, I even had a teacher tell me, it's like, oh, I bet you'll still be stuck in strad in five years time and like get nowhere.
00:27:22
Speaker
I was like, like I am, which like when I first moved back, I was like, oh no, that teacher's right.
00:27:27
Speaker
But like completely different.
00:27:29
Speaker
I'm now 23 running a business, you know, like it's completely different circumstance.
00:27:33
Speaker
But I think a lot of schools really try and pressure you into doing uni or like some degree, which I think all of like us three can agree that that's not, you know, that's not the only option out there.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:47
Speaker
I think, you know what, you just said something that I think is absolutely magic.
00:27:51
Speaker
You just want someone to go, yeah, you can.
00:27:55
Speaker
As much as they can.
00:27:57
Speaker
Even better.
00:27:58
Speaker
Does that teacher come into any of your businesses?
00:28:02
Speaker
And do you just give them a little warning?
00:28:04
Speaker
I know that you know that I know that, you know.
00:28:08
Speaker
I really hope he one day does.
00:28:10
Speaker
And I'll probably like hand him my business card and be like, hey, if you need anything.
00:28:14
Speaker
Give me a go.
00:28:15
Speaker
Do you know what, Holly?
00:28:17
Speaker
We've all got that teacher and you know what?
00:28:19
Speaker
We never forget their name.
00:28:22
Speaker
No.
00:28:22
Speaker
I don't think Mr. Beaver's going to be listening to this anyway.
00:28:25
Speaker
One day he might know me.
00:28:27
Speaker
Maybe.
00:28:31
Speaker
But I think that's brilliant.
00:28:33
Speaker
They always give out good advice, but sometimes more than anything, you just need support.
00:28:38
Speaker
School's always good advice.
00:28:40
Speaker
Great advice.
00:28:41
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:28:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:44
Speaker
So...
00:28:45
Speaker
Is this me again, Maxie?
00:28:47
Speaker
Yes.
00:28:47
Speaker
It sure is.
00:28:48
Speaker
I've got to remember, I'm on the odd numbers, honestly.
Perspective and Positivity
00:28:51
Speaker
It's been a big day.
00:28:53
Speaker
So best piece of advice you've been given, be it across the bar at 2 o'clock in the morning from the person you're trying to get out the door, best piece of advice you've been given, Holly, in your life that you can share.
00:29:07
Speaker
I'm not going to lie, that first part where you said about the, at 2am in the morning, that is half the time I don't get the best advice because it's when their filter's gone, they're focusing on you, you're trying to get them out the door, but they're just telling you their whole life story.
00:29:19
Speaker
And you need to hear this.
00:29:23
Speaker
I've once been told and I've, you know, remembered it ever since.
00:29:27
Speaker
It's the same boiling water that hardens an egg that softens a potato.
00:29:32
Speaker
And I think that stuck with me so much because 90% of life is about perspective and it's going to be what you make it.
00:29:38
Speaker
And you're the only one that has the ability to turn into something beautiful and positive.
00:29:42
Speaker
And I think if you continue to focus on the negative, then you're missing out on all the good parts.
00:29:50
Speaker
But once you start focusing on the good, the good gets better.
00:29:53
Speaker
And I think it's really just, yeah, I loved that saying and it stuck with me ever since.
00:29:57
Speaker
Like it's going to be what you make it.
00:29:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool.
00:30:00
Speaker
How you look at it.
00:30:02
Speaker
Tell you, look at it's all about perspective and just, just surround yourself with kind, positive people.
00:30:07
Speaker
And it brings out the best version and you want to be surrounded by people that actually lift you, not keep you on the same level or under, under certain people.
00:30:16
Speaker
So yeah, really good advice.
00:30:18
Speaker
Thanks for sharing.
00:30:19
Speaker
I heard a saying once that, um, I heard a saying where it says, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
00:30:26
Speaker
I love that one Holly absolutely if you're not being questioned by people smarter than you you're in the wrong room so yeah that is brilliant brilliant brilliant
00:30:43
Speaker
Okay, Holly, so you just said you're eight months into this role, but do you have a next career goal?
Community Building Efforts
00:30:50
Speaker
Maybe career goal, not so much career.
00:30:54
Speaker
Do you have any aspirations or big things that you want to do with the pub or the hotel?
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, what's the vision?
00:31:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's probably a big question, but not so much career because I know you love being a business owner, but is there something that you're focusing on to make better or to...
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, vision.
00:31:13
Speaker
As Lee was saying, I'm beating around the bush here.
00:31:18
Speaker
I'm really looking into upgrading the pub, obviously.
00:31:21
Speaker
I think it needs a big, nice renovation out the front.
00:31:23
Speaker
But I think just trying to build the community back is just my biggest focus at the moment.
00:31:28
Speaker
Because, like, even the towns, like you've got Roma and St George, they've got such a big...
00:31:35
Speaker
young crowd and such a big community there.
00:31:38
Speaker
And, you know, the weekends are huge.
00:31:40
Speaker
The young ones are out and about where like our town doesn't really have that.
00:31:43
Speaker
And, you know, even the it's, you can struggle to get some of the locals out.
00:31:47
Speaker
So I really just want to build that community back.
00:31:48
Speaker
Even when I started the Friday night raffles and Jack the Joker, just to try and get that, you know, that atmosphere back in town.
00:31:54
Speaker
Cause like once COVID hit, it kind of did a bit of, bit of damage to our town, unfortunately.
00:31:59
Speaker
So my main focus is just to obviously build the pub, build the business.
00:32:03
Speaker
But I really want to build the community back and get it to, you know, a busy town again.
00:32:07
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:32:09
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:32:10
Speaker
It would be awesome to come back and see you reach these goals.
00:32:15
Speaker
And we'll definitely be back.
00:32:16
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:32:17
Speaker
Because, you know, like... Hold it to me.
00:32:20
Speaker
Hold it to me.
00:32:21
Speaker
What's the Surat Pop event?
00:32:23
Speaker
We're on.
00:32:23
Speaker
We're on our way.
00:32:24
Speaker
So, you know...
00:32:27
Speaker
And I think you just said it's how you look at things and the people that you have around you and the energy that you put out is what you will attract to your venues.
00:32:40
Speaker
And...
00:32:41
Speaker
Like, I can't say enough of how we were welcomed, how made at home.
00:32:47
Speaker
I remember walking in the pub to see and I can't remember who it was, but they're just starting to light the fire.
00:32:54
Speaker
Just, you know, we walked in the pub in the first night and we knew no one.
00:32:58
Speaker
We walked in the second night, we stopped at the first table.
00:33:01
Speaker
we talked to the lady that worked in the library in the Cobb and Cove.
00:33:04
Speaker
We got to the second table and it was one of the teachers that we'd met in the school yesterday.
00:33:09
Speaker
And by the time we'd got to Andrew, who we, who was hosting us and, um, he was like, you've only been here a day, you know, you know, and it's like, I think you will attract that Holly because of that's how you make people welcome.
00:33:22
Speaker
So, um, you know, you will have no, no more people on your cheer squad than Maxie and I. And, um,
00:33:28
Speaker
You know, you're five hours down the road from me.
00:33:30
Speaker
I can get back in the minute.
00:33:32
Speaker
I still can't believe I brought the mini out to Surratt.
00:33:34
Speaker
But anyway.
00:33:36
Speaker
You're six hours away, an hour flight, five-hour drive.
00:33:41
Speaker
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
00:33:43
Speaker
So, no.
00:33:45
Speaker
And then obviously not the, you know, next career goal.
00:33:49
Speaker
It's in here in ink now, Holly, the book.
00:33:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:33:53
Speaker
Keep writing the diary.
00:33:54
Speaker
I welcome that.
00:33:57
Speaker
Exactly.
00:33:58
Speaker
Well, I'm going to be, next time I'm back, I'll be asking you for the first three chapters.
00:34:05
Speaker
Yes, exactly.
00:34:07
Speaker
Alrighty.
00:34:07
Speaker
So any other hobbies, as if you've even got time for hobbies with all that you're running, but, you know, we said, oh, you like to relax.
00:34:17
Speaker
Have you got any hobbies that you like to do?
00:34:19
Speaker
Are you a secret cross-stitcher or something?
00:34:21
Speaker
Anything that, you know, you like to do when you get a chance?
00:34:26
Speaker
I'm big on physical activity, so I love the gym.
00:34:29
Speaker
I don't love running, but I am starting to run.
00:34:31
Speaker
I'm trying to like it.
00:34:32
Speaker
I don't know how people do it, but I'm trying.
00:34:35
Speaker
I love baking.
00:34:36
Speaker
I love cooking for other people, not necessarily myself.
00:34:38
Speaker
I never have time to do that, but I love cooking for other people.
00:34:41
Speaker
I love painting too.
00:34:43
Speaker
Painting's a big, big hobby of mine at the moment.
00:34:45
Speaker
That's cool.
00:34:46
Speaker
I'm loving painting.
00:34:48
Speaker
Cool.
00:34:48
Speaker
Do you paint them too?
00:34:52
Speaker
Sorry?
00:34:52
Speaker
Sorry, sorry.
00:34:53
Speaker
Do you paint landscapes or portraits or what sort of painting?
Relaxation and Embracing Change
00:34:57
Speaker
Landscape mostly.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, wow.
00:35:02
Speaker
That one?
00:35:03
Speaker
Wow.
00:35:05
Speaker
Because people can't see this video, we can see it and it looks awesome, beautiful colours.
00:35:12
Speaker
Yeah, so I paint mainly landscape stuff or like
00:35:16
Speaker
birds or flowers and stuff like that yeah cool nature brilliant that's out of my level portraits are way too difficult yeah that is um that's i've i actually why we've been talking i noticed that behind you because it looks like a local um sunset or and i actually um i had no idea that you painted it what a legend amazing awesome we need a photo of that if we can holly when we do the socials of this we'll stick the photo up yeah thank you i'll do that
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:35:48
Speaker
Okay, so if you weren't working in the pub, hotel, cafe, looking after people or nursing back in the day, what do you reckon you would have been?
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah, for some reason, I don't know whether it's the country girl in me, I've always wanted to like go and work on a station, but like overseas.
00:36:08
Speaker
I once had this random email saying,
00:36:10
Speaker
come to me and they were looking for ringers out over in Canada and I was like how incredible like I want and I still want to do that so bad I that's still on my list of things to do eventually if I take a break from the pub I'm going over to Canada six months and I'm riding horses that is my plan that's epic yeah overseas have you I'm sure you have but Yellowstone
00:36:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yes.
00:36:36
Speaker
Great.
00:36:37
Speaker
I think it's the last season of the second part is coming out soon.
00:36:41
Speaker
I'm waiting for it to come out.
00:36:42
Speaker
Me too.
00:36:43
Speaker
Me too.
00:36:43
Speaker
Great, great series.
00:36:45
Speaker
But, yeah, that's cool.
00:36:46
Speaker
That's why I started it, actually.
00:36:48
Speaker
I'm live on Yellowstone.
00:36:49
Speaker
That's probably what gave me the motivation for it.
00:36:51
Speaker
It's a great TV series.
00:36:53
Speaker
Kevin Costner, what a dude.
00:36:55
Speaker
And Rip, Rip's a legend.
00:36:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:59
Speaker
Rip is a legend.
00:37:01
Speaker
I need to get on to that.
00:37:03
Speaker
I'm not saying that.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:04
Speaker
Highly recommend it.
00:37:06
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:37:07
Speaker
All right.
00:37:08
Speaker
Good stuff.
00:37:09
Speaker
So it's not really that long ago, Holly.
00:37:13
Speaker
You're still, you know, you're still so young, but what advice would you give to your 16 year old self?
00:37:20
Speaker
I think, and this is probably going off my current situation and things I've learned very, very recently, but,
00:37:27
Speaker
don't take life too seriously.
00:37:29
Speaker
And I think it's so easy to say that, but then trying to live that is also a completely different situation.
00:37:35
Speaker
But there's going to be so many things in your life that are out of your control.
00:37:39
Speaker
And the more you try and force something or the more you try and, you know, focus on fixing something that's not meant to be fixed, it's just going to do more damage.
00:37:47
Speaker
I think, you know, you really don't waste your time and don't waste your energy trying to change something that isn't going to change.
00:37:55
Speaker
And I think that
00:37:56
Speaker
You know, there's only so much that you can do and it is what it's going to be.
00:38:00
Speaker
You know, it's going to happen no matter what.
00:38:01
Speaker
And I think the biggest thing that like even moving from the coast back home and like whether it's situations, friendships, relationships, no matter what it is, I think at the end of the day you have to just let things be, find the blessing, find the lesson and then carry on.
00:38:19
Speaker
And I think it's not rejection, it's redirection is how I look at it.
00:38:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:25
Speaker
You know, things are going to change no matter what.
00:38:27
Speaker
And I think we put so much pressure on ourselves trying to put everything together and life's just going to happen.
00:38:32
Speaker
And if you don't, you know, if you focus too much on the small stuff, you're going to miss the bigger picture, you know, kind of thing.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, I like that.
00:38:39
Speaker
I love it.
00:38:41
Speaker
And people do.
00:38:41
Speaker
They come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
00:38:45
Speaker
And sometimes you think they're going to be one and they end up being the other.
00:38:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:50
Speaker
And just, yeah, I think as long as you're always staying true to you,
00:38:57
Speaker
You can do no more than that.
00:38:59
Speaker
Be true to you.
00:39:00
Speaker
And also just be a good human being.
00:39:02
Speaker
Be kind.
00:39:03
Speaker
Give back where you can.
00:39:04
Speaker
And just be positive.
00:39:05
Speaker
And, yeah, and just life's a roll of the cuts.
00:39:09
Speaker
And you get the ups and downs and ups and downs, twists and turns.
00:39:15
Speaker
But, yeah, it's really good advice, Holly.
00:39:18
Speaker
That's a really good thing that you could give your 16-year-old.
00:39:21
Speaker
So thank you for sharing.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah, brilliant.
00:39:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:25
Speaker
Okay, so the final question, speaking about how you deal with stress, you love your music, have you got a song that you recommend that we could add to our Live, Learn, Survive Spotify playlist?
00:39:39
Speaker
I would just like to say I would recommend any Zach Bryans.
00:39:43
Speaker
album, playlist, music, song, whatever.
00:39:45
Speaker
Zach Bryant, yeah.
00:39:48
Speaker
My classic first, like if I need an upbeat song, if I need something to lift my mood, it's Good To Be by Mark Amber.
00:39:56
Speaker
And it is just, it's such a beautiful song and it just automatically gets you in the groove.
00:40:00
Speaker
It gets your, you know, it gets your mood lifted.
00:40:02
Speaker
So that's a beautiful song.
00:40:04
Speaker
Good To Be, Mark Amber.
00:40:06
Speaker
Love it.
00:40:08
Speaker
We've got some great songs on there.
00:40:11
Speaker
Mark Amber.
00:40:14
Speaker
Maxie is adding it as we speak.
00:40:15
Speaker
Good to be Mark Amber.
00:40:18
Speaker
We can't play it because then we get a smack on the legs by the YouTube people.
00:40:24
Speaker
But we always... It is added to the playlist.
00:40:27
Speaker
Added to the playlist.
00:40:28
Speaker
Then we sneak off and then we go and have a listen.
00:40:32
Speaker
So, yeah, no, that's great.
00:40:36
Speaker
I was going to say, Holly, those songs that are on this playlist...
00:40:39
Speaker
of coming from people from all over the world.
00:40:42
Speaker
So all of a sudden you'll hear a band you've never heard of or a song.
00:40:45
Speaker
It's like, you know, it was the absolute, you know, banger from Germany or something.
00:40:50
Speaker
So it's a really eclectic, cool playlist.
00:40:53
Speaker
So your choice is now in there as well.
00:40:56
Speaker
So brilliant.
00:40:59
Speaker
Absolutely brilliant.
Charm of Countryside Life
00:41:02
Speaker
Look, anything else you want to share about your magnificent part of the world, Holly?
00:41:06
Speaker
It's, you know...
00:41:08
Speaker
Outback Australia is kind of, you know, people have seen it on movies and things like that, but you actually live it.
00:41:15
Speaker
It is like driving into a real life movie set from a point of, you know, the open spaces and the roads and the skies, you know, anything else you want to share with us about your part of the world.
00:41:28
Speaker
I just think everyone needs to see it.
00:41:30
Speaker
Like it's probably biased, but even when like, when I went to this, like the, well, I call the Sunshine Coast a city.
00:41:35
Speaker
It's huge to me.
00:41:36
Speaker
It's probably not to most people, but even like going to Brisbane and stuff, it's just, you know, completely different.
00:41:41
Speaker
The landscape, the sunrises, the sunsets, the people, like I think everyone needs to go outside.
00:41:45
Speaker
It doesn't have to be throughout.
00:41:46
Speaker
It'd be great if it is.
00:41:48
Speaker
I'd love to meet everyone.
00:41:50
Speaker
But just go visit the countryside and just, it's just a simple life out here.
00:41:54
Speaker
You know, it's peaceful.
00:41:56
Speaker
It's beautiful.
00:41:56
Speaker
The people are magic.
00:41:57
Speaker
It's, yeah, I think everyone needs to experience once in their life.
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:01
Speaker
And you do road trains really well out there.
00:42:05
Speaker
We do.
00:42:06
Speaker
We love our road trains out here.
00:42:09
Speaker
How many road trains did we video in the space of three days, Maxie?
00:42:14
Speaker
I think there was about 25 plus.
00:42:20
Speaker
Easily.
00:42:21
Speaker
We didn't film them all, but we stopped and admired and drive past.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah, we did.
00:42:24
Speaker
We sort of like stopped and had a little respectful for the truckie, you know.
00:42:31
Speaker
A little bit of a head nod or a bit of a. Yeah, I love it.
00:42:35
Speaker
I appreciate it.
00:42:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:36
Speaker
So, no.
00:42:38
Speaker
Holly, it's been an absolute pleasure.
00:42:40
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story because, you know, this is all about sharing tips and little bits of advice and that bit of thing.
00:42:52
Speaker
And I'm sure there'll be somebody around the world that one bit, even one bit of it will resonate, probably many bits of it and help them on their sort of journey as well.
00:43:03
Speaker
And that's what it's all about.
00:43:04
Speaker
So we're so, so grateful that you came on.
00:43:07
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me.
00:43:09
Speaker
And just quickly, Holly, if people are listening, how can they find you or see some of your businesses?
00:43:16
Speaker
Do you want to give your businesses a shout out?
00:43:18
Speaker
Yes.
00:43:19
Speaker
So most of us, we're all on social media, obviously, big thing these days.
00:43:24
Speaker
So if you ever want to contact me personally, it's holly.tom01.
00:43:28
Speaker
I'm on Instagram or we got the Surat New Royal on Facebook.
00:43:32
Speaker
I've just started up a TikTok account for it.
00:43:35
Speaker
Awesome.
00:43:35
Speaker
The video was ridiculous, but anyway.
00:43:38
Speaker
I'll check it out.
00:43:41
Speaker
And what is the, is it the New Royal Hotel TikTok?
00:43:46
Speaker
Surat New Royal.
00:43:47
Speaker
Surat New Royal.
00:43:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:43:49
Speaker
I'm going to be going straight up.
00:43:52
Speaker
My 200 followers on TikTok will be all over that.
00:43:56
Speaker
Surat New Royal.
00:43:58
Speaker
Well, again, Holly, thank you so much.
00:44:01
Speaker
It's been an absolute pleasure.
00:44:02
Speaker
Keep smiling.
00:44:03
Speaker
You light up the room.
00:44:05
Speaker
Again, thank you for looking after us a couple of months ago.
00:44:07
Speaker
And we will be back in 2025, hopefully.
00:44:08
Speaker
And we'll be in touch.
00:44:10
Speaker
I can't wait to see you guys again.
00:44:12
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:44:13
Speaker
We'll be coming road tripping.
00:44:15
Speaker
And, yeah, take care and say hi to everyone in the town.
00:44:20
Speaker
Will do.
00:44:20
Speaker
We all miss you here.
00:44:23
Speaker
We miss you too.
00:44:25
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:44:25
Speaker
All right then, Holly.
00:44:27
Speaker
Thanks so much.
00:44:28
Speaker
Have a great, so what, you know, it's nearly four o'clock in the afternoon now, the pub, you better start and go and get that pub rocking.
00:44:37
Speaker
And please tell me you didn't, one last question, you didn't run out of beer for the Cobb & Co.
00:44:41
Speaker
Festival.
00:44:42
Speaker
No, no, we are not a pub with no beer.
00:44:44
Speaker
We are fully stocked.
00:44:46
Speaker
We've got the Surratt races coming up next weekend, so they're probably going to drink us dry as well, but always fully stocked.
00:44:52
Speaker
Stocking up again.
00:44:53
Speaker
Brilliant.
00:44:54
Speaker
We'll let you get back to it, Holly.
00:44:55
Speaker
That's been brilliant.
00:44:56
Speaker
Thanks so much.
00:44:58
Speaker
Take care.
00:44:59
Speaker
See you, everyone.
00:45:00
Speaker
Bye.
00:45:01
Speaker
Bye.