When bush kid Grant Champion invited his city-slicker schoolmate Tom Auriac to western Queensland to "make a man out of him", neither expected what the outback had in store.
One night, over casual drinks in the tiny town of Stonehenge (population about 50), the then-owner of the local pub joked he might be ready to sell up.
"I just happened to say one night, 'If anybody wants to buy this bastard, it's for sale'," former owner Tony Jackson said.
"The boys came to me a couple of days later and asked me if I was fair dinkum."
It became an offer too good to refuse.
'Young and dumb'
The story of how the Yeppoon schoolmates ended up behind the bar is already etched into the psyche of the pub, which has been around in the frontier town, south-west of Longreach, since the 1800s.
"It was just a big night on the piss, really," Mr Champion said.
Mr Auriac jovially attributed the purchase to them being "young and dumb".
"If you're going to go broke, you may as well do it having fun with a couple of your best mates, so why not?"
Fast-forward 10 months, the mates are "loving" their once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The duo spend their days labouring at the quarry, while their nights are spent running meals, taking orders behind the bar and doing dishes.
Nights behind the bar can stretch into the early hours when ringers from nearby properties descend on the pub to blow off steam.
"It took a few months to get the hang of it," Mr Champion said.
"Sometimes you're doing dishes at 9pm wondering what you've done."
'If the pub folds, the town folds'
The Stonehenge Hotel is off the beaten track and attracts characters and personalities from near and far.
It also operates as the town's motel, caravan park, fuel station, post office, grocery store and is the point of call for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in an emergency.
Locals fear that without the pub, the town would cease to exist.
"There would be nothing," Curly Pigeon, the pub's most dedicated patron, said.
Mr Pigeon was part of a council team that rebuilt the pub after it burnt down about 50 years ago.
"If the pub had've died, the town would've died," he said.
Bypassing the banks
Mr Jackson had only taken over the pub when its future was in doubt six years ago.
He is acting as an interest-free bank for the new owners, who are set to pay off the pub over the next two years.
"We knew the banks weren't going to give us a great deal of money, so we sort of just said, 'Tony, we'd love to have a go if you give us a go'," Mr Champion said.
"He said, 'That's no dramas', so we just sort of used him as a bank and it's turned out so well so far."
Mr Jackson was so happy to see the next generation take over the pub that he left his fridges fully stocked.
"From a business point of view, you've got something to sell and somebody wants to buy it, if you make it easier for them, the sale always goes through.
"Change is often a good thing, not always a bad thing."
Not just about pouring beers
Grant and Tom have quickly learnt that running the pub isn't just about pouring beers with your mates.
They've faced medical emergencies, broken up drunken arguments, and skyrocketing insurance costs means the pub isn't insured.
"Your profit margin wouldn't be worthwhile ... it would almost be a third of what the place is worth a year to insure it," Mr Auriac said.
Thankfully, staffing hasn't been an issue so far.
The new owners have attracted several young staff to the outback, as well as keeping long-term staff like their "inherited chef" Rolly, who's often referred to as "Rolls-Royce", on the books.
Meanwhile, 25-year-old Riqui Vines was living in Yeppoon when she saw an ad for the job in Stonehenge.
'It was supposed to be a month, and a month has turned into two months, and two months has turned into three months. Now, I think I'll stick around for a while," she said.
"They're doing pretty good, the doors are still open, and we're still serving beers so they're obviously doing something right."
Time will tell how long the young business owners keep the pub, but they acknowledge the importance of keeping it in good hands.
"If it ever stops being fun or stops making money ... I'm sure we'll just pack her up and try and find a buyer," Mr Auriac said.
"We want to keep it local because [we] have the best interests for the town.
"If someone buys it and shuts it for half a year, the town will die, so you want to give it to someone who will keep the show going."
