Easter

 

The Lions Den will be CLOSED Good Friday and will re-open as normal at 9am Easter Saturday 23^rd April.

 

 

International Dinner Nights!!!

 

I think it is fair to say that our Lions Den International Dinner nights were a raving success!! Three internationally themed foody nights were held over January, February and April and allowed visitors to experience the tasty cuisine and vibrant music of Mexico, the Mediterranean and lastly India. The Lions Den  locals showed they are no strangers to the art of international dining with plenty of dress ups, dancing and exotic cocktails being readily embraced. Multi coloured sombreros, matching hawaiian shirts from the dark reaches of men’s closets and a strangely suspicious cross dressing belly dancer were just some of the exciting and hilarious sights to be seen on our gastronomic adventure. Not to mention that the food wasn’t too bad either!

Check out the gallery for more pics

 

Rianne puts 4,302 bottle tops to good use!

Artistic Dutch backpacker Rianne Spigt has put her three months working at the Lions Den Hotel to good use by completing a massive sign made up of no less than 4,302 Australian beer bottle tops! Working tirelessly in her spare time and on her days off, Rianne showed a flare for turning discarded rubbish into an historic masterpiece. Securing her own place in the Lions Den Hotel’s 135 year history, Rianne’s work will now have pride of place on the roof of the main bar along with old pub favourites like an impressive set of shark jaws, working traffic lights, and perhaps not so famously a pair of signed under shorts and shamelessly oversized bras. What will they think of next?

Black Image perform LIVE!

Black Image took to the stage on Saturday night with a massive crowd turning out to party and dance well into the night. The deck was crowded with people, not unlike New Years Eve, as the local boys from Wajul Wajul  turned it up for a great night of entertainment.

Australia Day 2011

This week the Lions Den Hotel was blessed by the weather gods and it made Australia Day perfect for just sitting in the sun with good friends and drinking ample amounts of Aussie beer! It seems that everyone had the same idea as the pub was packed with families, new comers and old timers all out to celebrate our national day of doing nothing. In the arvo we fired up the essential barbecue and fed the hungry hordes. Ultimately there’s nothing quite like the smell of sausages on a BBQ to make you think AUSTRALIA!

 

 

NEW YEARS EVE 2010!!!!!

This year’s New Years Eve at the Lions Den Hotel was a sensational blend of colourful costumes,  vibrant pleasure seekers and just damn good old fashion rock and roll! Our 50’s Rockabilly theme night and the clear, warm night brought partygoers out in their hundreds while Gav Dear and the boys slammed out tunes till the wee hours. Joined on stage later by up and coming local Wajul Wajul band ‘The Coldwater Band’, party goers had no excuse but to get up and shake their tail feathers. While the rest of Queensland seems to be threatened by flood waters the Den and surrounds has been spared, and the weather just couldn’t have been better. Stomping vibes and some insane finger picking brought the sounds of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis alive for the crowd, topped off by a unique rockabilly take on Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. The costumes took everyone back to the 50’s with no shortage of full skirts, polka dot ribbons and grease rigid hair. Best dressed was won by Roadie and Roz who between them covered every fashion memory from the cult movie ‘Grease’. Thanks to all the party goers who made it yet another memorable New Years Eve for the Lions Den Hotel..... Happy 2011 everyone!!!!!

Check out the photo gallery for all the New Year photos....

As heard on the Gold Coast's 102.9FM Hot Tomato

Those of you who live on the Gold Coast or Brisbane may have heard us on the radio waves this week, with Paul Burt from 102.9FM Hot Tomato ringing up for a bit of Lions Den Hotel goss. Paul was more than happy to hear about the old pub, the characters who drink here and the friendly faces we see passing through. Maybe we can hope to see Paul Burt and his radio friends up this way sometime soon to see the place in person. Thanks Paul and now you guys on the Gold coast have no excuse!

 

Melbourne Cup Day in Far North Queensland

Although the interior of the Lions Den Hotel bares little resemblance to the inner circle of Flemington race course, the “race that stops a nation” certainly did that on Tuesday. Melbourne Cup day saw some fine tropical fashions and some intriguing head ware as well as some fierce competition for the race sweep. Jack pulled out a double whammy drawing out Melbourne Cup 2010 winner ‘Americain’ in both the $5 and the $10 sweep (investigations are still underway.....????) but most losers were made happy when Jack threw it all back on the bar to help celebrate the day....aahhhh. Our visitors from Sweden, Holland and Mexico also got the chance to see that Aussies really don’t need much of an excuse to get dressed up and celebrate! Check out the Photo Gallery for more Melbourne Cup day pics

 

NRL Grand Final

The NRL grand final brought in the footy fans again on Sunday, this time to see the Roosters take on the Dragons. Lions Den regular Jim brought his own rooster to the party to help cheer on the Sydney side.......It seems having a large bird doesn’t always help your team win...congratulations Dragons!

 

 

AFL Grandfinal Draw!!

Well it looks like the AFL have hit the jackpot! A game SO big, it now takes 2 weekends to get a result....what the??? Well people from all over converged on the Lions Den to watch St Kilda clash with Collingwood in the AFL’s 2010 Grand final last Saturday. Despite being the weekend of the nearby Wallaby Creek Festival it seems that when you need to watch you just need to watch. It was a lively crowd with a good mix of supporters waiting anxiously to see if St Kilda could overcome the much loved and much hated Collingwood. Despite Collingwood looking like running away with the game in the first quarter, St Kilda fought back until it became a point for point contest. Unbelievably as the final siren sounded it was a Collingwood/ Stkilda draw!!! Now you know what that means? We HAVE to all come back here next Saturday to have a few icy cold beers and see the two teams clash again..........poor us!!

 

Faith Nulley

 

LIONS DEN HOTEL

 

Ph:   (07) 4060 3911

Fax: (07) 40603958

www.lionsdenhotel.com.au

 

Grant Denyer and the 'Sunrise' crew discover the Den!

Television up here in the north is like mail delivery in the wet season...sometimes you’re gunna get it and sometimes you’re just not. Channel 7’s television show ’Sunrise’ decided that it would be a good challenge (not to mention a good watch) for their golden boy Grant Denyer to take the average aussie out of their city lounge room on an exciting journey to the far north.....the very far north, Cape York!. Much to our pleasure the Sunrise mob decided to call our humble pub home for the night and show case to the world our little slice of paradise not to mention give us a good laugh and an excuse to stay up late. As many of you may know the crew was meant to arrive here on Monday night but after a mass of unseasonal rain they were delayed by Cooper Creek near Cow Bay, after a bus and a car got washed off the causeway.....that was meant to be the easy end of the Bloomfield Track, what was going on??? Next day they amazingly (for  August) got stuck again at the Bloomfield River near Wajul Wajul where they waited for six hours for the waters to recede enough for them to cross. A very weary star and crew arrived here around 7pm Tuesday night and were quickly filled up with hot pizzas and cold beers.

Our late night suddenly became a very early morning with us cracking open the doors to the pub at 4.50am so the cameraman and his satellite crew could get setup, ready for their live feed into the Sydney studio at 6am. As scheduled Grant did a live cross every half an hour from various location around the pub and even had a chat with the local kids in the school bus on their way to school at Rossville. All up the Sunrise crew were a pleasure to have and we congratulate them on completing their trek to the top of Cape York with their satellite gear so others could share their experience. Hope to see them back this way again soon!

 

Faith – Visit the photo gallery to see more pics of the Sunrise visit.

WIN WALLABY CREEK FESTIVAL TICKETS!!!!!!

 WIN!

By staying at the Lions Den during the month of August.....You can have the chance to win a double 3 day pass to the spectacular Wallaby Creek Festival in Rossville valued at $170 (September24-26) simply by staying overnight at the Lions Den Hotel during August and entering your name and address into the draw at the bar. The winner will be entitled to a fully transferable double weekend pass to the three day festival situated at ‘Homerule’ in Rossville, just 7km from the Den. The Wallaby Creek Festival features live music, workshops, arts, children’s festival, indigenous culture, bush poetry and more. A true celebration of music and arts in the rainforest! For more information visit www.wallabycreekfestival.org.au or phone (07) 4069 5871 or 4060 3112

State of Origin - Will it be a Qld clean sweep?

Tonight is the third and final match in the much anticipated State of Origin clash between Qld and NSW. Given that Queensland has ‘flogged’ NSW in each of their previous encounters, it is not unlikely that there will be plenty of blue flags trampled under the feet of many tonight. As you can see,  the staff and the locals are just as capable as any city footy crowd when it comes to turning it on and having a good time! GO MAROONS!!!

 

 

JUNE LONG WEEKEND

The long weekend was a huge success with fabulous weather and sensational music that just kept on coming. Friday night we were wowed by the experimental and exciting sounds of Moondogs Gypsy Blues Band, a duo of exceptional rhythm and soul moving blues. No strangers to the Den, Kate and Moondog brought cruisey blues sounds to the laid back crowd with many pitching tents and settling in for a long weekend of good music. Saturday saw the arrival of the fresh faced boys from Dubble D Infinitee that impressed everyone with their strong vocals, dynamic originals and unique take on alternative classics. Their confidence and professionalism proved they are a young and upcoming band to watch.

Saturday night saw a huge line up with the Barefoot Belles kicking things off with their strong girl rock, closely followed by the Hillbilly Goats and friends who packed out the stage with their hillbilly sounds. Our  very own ‘Boney Goat’ aka Jack Ryle sported a new set of horns for is bone slapping solos and their fill in drummer and guitarist only seemed to boost the energy of this dynamic band.

Two French backpackers and buskers (kindly given the nicknames of ‘paddy and melon’ by friendly locals) gave an amazing display of their musical prowess by first playing high tempo Irish music for the crowd and later on Sunday’s open mic an artful account of traditional French music. It was an unexpected cultural injection into the Lions Den community, performed to a very appreciative crowd. After the goats on Saturday night came the well loved Roadtrippers who have no difficulty in keeping a crowd dancing. With the Roadtrippers and the Toadrippers at the helm the night was never going to be an early one!

Sunday saw the Hillbilly goats take to the stage again, with time-out for a traditional “Cane Toad Race” that allowed many people to share in the mayhem of this very Far North Queensland tradition. A dairy farmer from Gippsland in Victoria, Natalie White, the only girl in the field, showed all the boys how it was done by winning the race with the help of her toad “Hop a-long Cassatoad”. Nat kindly donated all her winnings of $290 to the Rossville Fire Brigade.....Good On you Nat!

Finally as the sun went down, the Lions Den microphone was thrown open to all those brave souls who had more music to offer. Local talents included young Albert who showed he has definitely got his father Gav’s musical talents, as well as the well loved singing cowboy Steve from north of Cooktown. Also plucking the strings was publican Max, Cairns local Carl and of course the unusual talents of the French boys Paddy and Melon.

 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with a fantastic atmosphere made possible by the great crowd, filled with inquisitive and interesting visitors and the ever supportive locals. Thanks everyone for making it a magnificent time for all and we’ll see you back here next year!!!!!!

A big thank you must go to our FABULOUS staff who jumped straight in at the deep end and made this weekend possible. Thanks for your commitment and your positive attitudes, we could not have done it without you. Special thanks also to friend and neighbour Gavin Dear for all your untiring passion, support and dedication to the music... THANKYOU! To our wonderful Kerry and also to the always positive John, Nat and Sally, we definitely could not have managed without you...and that is the truth. Thank you all so much!

Faith & Max  

 

 

Roadtrippers Anniversary Show

The Roadtrippers - ‘100 Smoke to Kununurra’ anniversary show was a big success, with plenty of visitors from out of town coming to join the party. A high energy show with all the favourites as well as an alien inspired set from the roadtripper’s alter ego the ‘Toadrippers’ meant the action just kept going and going. Gav, Lee, Pando, Screamer and special guest Jack played for Lee’s final gig before hitting the road for Western Australia. Look out for the Roadtrippers over the June Queens Birthday long weekend, playing along with four other bands and various musical friends at the Lions Den Hotel’s massive 3 days of Music!

Going skywards!

What promised to be a usual Saturday afternoon suddenly turned unusual last week when a visiting helicopter pilot treated pub owner Faith and two long time employees, Ali and Mark, to a heart pounding flight in his chopper and a chance to see our amazing home from the air. To see the Lions Den Hotel, the Lt Annan River, Black Mountain, the Annan Gorge and all its’ waterfalls was a special glimpse into the hidden beauty of this area. Fortunately, in between clinging to our seat belts and overcoming the feeling that we were about to fall out the open doors, we managed to take some great photos and a few snippets of video to share with you. So check out the you tube link below for a chopper eye view of the Little Annan River behind the Lions Den Hotel.........yeeeee haaaaaaa!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=371oRy2xtYs

Late Wet Season

Just when we thought it was going to be a dry wet season, the last three weeks have proven that mother nature had no such intention. With the low pressure system over the gulf from ex-cyclone Paul we coped a huge amount of rain to take us back up to nearly our average yearly rainfall in just over a month. It’s been a good soaking with the Lt Annan River coming up into the campground behind the pub and both Mungumby Creek and Wallaby Creek flowing well over the top of their respective bridges. The place is looking greener than green and having both the Bloomfield Track and the Mulligan Hwy cut off a different times over a few days made it exciting times for those Easter travellers.

No one seemed to mind, and at least if you have to get stranded it may as well be on the side of the river that has the pub!!!!!!!

 

Faith

Brains put to the test

Last Saturday night was the first ever Lions Den Trivia Night, that saw locals putting on their thinking caps and battling it out for the cash prize and the title of Trivia Master!!!! Teams of four tackled 10 rounds of 10 questions with winners and losers along the way given some cold beverages to keep the spirits high. A few quiet geniuses were discovered and after an extremely tight race to the finish one team was crowned the victors, happy to take home their new title. One does wonder however what the true colour of a stick of rock is???????.....apparently the answer is pink....Go figure!