COUNTRY PUBS
The great Aussie pub is a colourful part of Australian culture and the source of many a tall story. Country and regional pubs are authentic, affordable places to spend a few hours and immerse yourself in local life.
Great Ocean Road
Along Victoria's southwestern coast is the cute township of Port Fairy, where the Caledonian Inn claims a position in Australian history as the oldest continuously licensed pub in Victoria, slaking the meanest of thirsts since 1844. The pub was never completed as planned. Workers downed their tools in a mad rush for gold.
Queenscliff has a host of plush drinking joints, including the Ozone Hotel, the Queenscliff Hotel and the Vue Grand, all good for their beer selection and quality of food. Generously staggered down a hill is another much-loved watering hole – the venerable St Andrews Pub. The bar crowd is mostly local, often jovial and always chatty.
You'll also find lovely locals at the pubs in beachfront Torquay and Lorne.
Goldfields
During the 1860s, hundreds of pubs lined the route to the Goldfields. One still standing is the Provincial Hotel. Located in Ballarat's historic Lydiad Street, it sports a higgledy-piggledy design to distinguish itself from a strip characterised by the twin perils of Victorian vulgarity and goldrush megalomania – even the pub's domes are different shapes. Surrealism is the order of the day here, but it's also a great place to start your pub tour.
In Maldon, you'll find a goldrush town preserved like few others. Original verandahs and faded advertisements adorn the streets. Scores of past-their-prime buildings stand cheek by jowl. Here, the classic Kangaroo Hotel was formerly a changing station for Cobb & Co during the gold rush years.
High Country
In the heart of the High Country, hopeful and hapless diggers used to drink at Beechworth's Tanswell Commercial Hotel. Located in Ford Street, it was opened in the 1870s after the original wood building was razed to the ground the previous decade. Stick around a while and pretty soon this place will feel like home.
