IT'S a typical Saturday afternoon at the Toobeah Pub, where a few travellers and a growing number of locals are beginning to gather.
Children can be heard ordering chips and lemonade hollering "put it on Mum's tab", as they take off to the jumping castle and playground, goods in hand.
The adults are perched on stools at the bar, which has been fashioned from wood panelling and corrugated iron.
The growing hum of conversation is mixing with the Country Music Channel playing from behind the bar.
It's easy to see why locals describe this place as "their home-away-from-home."
The Toobeah pub was built in 1911 and Michael Offerdahl senior bought it in 1988.
The current publican Michael Offerdahl junior, who can often be found behind the bar or tending to the grounds, took over the pub in 2011.
The Toobeah Pub sponsors sporting teams and events throughout the region, including the Goondiwindi Hawks, the Goondiwindi rugby league and touch football, the Goondiwindi Show and Toobeah Campdraft.
Toobeah is an old railway town that now hosts a grain depot for surrounding properties.
The Toobeah pub is where you can find the farmers and workers celebrating the beginning of harvest, the end of harvest and many of the days in between.
Local farm brands have left their mark on the wooden walls, their own little piece of history now a part of the pub for as long as those wooden beams stand.
The last few lacklustre seasons have taken their toll on the hotel in the same way they have on the rest of the region.
"At the moment we're just sort of battling through; if cotton is no good you can forget about it," Mick said.
"We want to create a hotel and town that will last another 100 years."
The unreliability of the weather and the agricultural industries' dependence on it has meant the Offerdahls are now shifting their focus from agriculture to tourism.
"It's all going well, but slowly. I would love to develop caravan and camping for this region."
They currently have the toilet and shower facilities needed to host the "grey nomads" but Michael said he would look into purpose-built facilities.
Michael's wife, Stacy, first came to the region backpacking before falling in love with both Michael and the region.
"Stacy was working for Dad and I was managing the golf club in town. It was just one of those things, she pursued me," Michael joked.
"She is a pretty incredible support and a great cook. Not everyone could muster up 100 great meals on a Saturday night."
For Stacy, it was Michael's riding ability.
"I saw him on a horse - that's what got me."
After that Stacy made the permanent move from her Essex home where she worked in hospitality and as a riding instructor.
They are both skills that have come in handy.
Stacy works in the pub and then runs horse-riding lessons on the weekend from the yards that are practically in the pub's backyard.
Stacy and Michael have since brought two beautiful children into the fold.
"My brother and I grew up in the pub and now Jacob and Ivy will have that chance as well," Michael said.
As the couple rug their horses and we discuss the age-old city versus country lifestyle question, Stacy muses it's "much better out this way".
As the late sun sets over the field of horses and the pub I can see what she means.
Toobeah is home to about 45 people and when there is only one pub in town it is bound to be the social heart of the community.
