Settlers Arm Inn, St Albans

About 20kms from Wisemans Ferry is the historic little pub, Settlers Arm Inn in the tiny township of St Albans. The drive is quite fun as you have to cross the Hawkesbury River by car-ferry, a bit of a novelty for these two city slickers. 

The Inn was built in 1836 and is built from convict hewn sandstone. Initially the inn was a stopover for Cobb and Co coaches travelling between Sydney and Newcastle. Amazing to think that what is now a 3 hour drive required an overnight back in 1836. 

The food served at the Settlers Arms is basic pub-fare. Nothing gourmet and nothing that you'd class as fine dining or Gastro-Pub food. It's simple Aussie pub food, and to be honest you're in St Albans more to soak up a bit of history, enjoy a country drive, have a beer and take in the surrounds.   The food hits the spot in an location that is as removed from 2012 (the year, and the postcode) as you can get.

The Boy and I both order to the T-Bone Steak ($27.00). They are ENORMOUS.

And...commence rant: I'd convinced myself that I was craving red meat and that eating a steak was OK as Mr Cow was probably grass-fed and thus lived a happy happy life in a paddock and met his maker whilst be stroked and sung lullaby's by caring abattoir workers.  This is basically a crock of shit I told myself to justify eating it as I had no idea about the provenance of the meat.  In short I didn't enjoy it - eating it made me feel really sad and gross...so my experiment with eating meat is over unless I buy it from a farmer's market or ethical butcher and know 100% that is free-range.  I want to support the free-range meat industry as I believe in what they do...just not horrible factory farming.  The boy really loved his steak though . End rant.

As with all good Aussie Pubs, this one is home to a fine pooch or two who will happily camp by your table hoping a chip or a stray piece of steak falls their way.

Settlers Arms Inn is at 1 Wharf Street, St Albans. Phone them on 4568 2111. You can reach the pub by taking either of the two Ferry's out of Wiseman's Ferry. Enjoy the drive!

Oh, and when you get back to Wiseman's Ferry you can duck back to the shopping arcade for more Kitty spotting. This is Rosie, daughter of Reg and Rita. She doesn't like people and this is her best "get the hell away from me" look.