Best & Worst Country Towns Visited

[roland]

My wife and I love nothing better than getting on the motorbike and heading bush. (well I think she likes it as much as I do

We have had lots of experiences, both good and bad, often these lead to a general impression of the location and the locals.

Here are a couple, would love to hear other ASF'ers experiences with our "off the beaten track" locations:

Good
- Ulladulla, absolutely the best pizza we have ever had. Just opposite the boat harbour area - didn't go for the pub much, too many noisy teens and young 20's doing the usual drink and get stupid on a public holiday thing.

Good
- Bega, found a great little pub, just a few old locals in attendance - the best country steak ever, with an entree of delactable local oysters - enjoyed the country hospitality and great food.

Good
- Collector, brekky at the only petrol between Goulbourn and Canberra. Tin Shed dunny, no menu for breakfast - just a "do you want a cooked breakfast?" from the owner.... what a delight, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, grilled tomato washed down with fresh brewed coffee. We've been longing for another brekky there

Bad
- Cooma, what a bunch of stuck up hicks, people at the pubs just about stop talking when you go through the doors. Men and women segregated to their own corners of the pub. People look sideways at you in the street. If it wasn't 8PM on a cold winter's night we may have just gone to the next town.

Bad
- Lithgow, just down right boring

Good
- Cowra, well a breath of fresh air. People say G'day in the street, everyone seems happy, the pub has this huge blackboard menu that takes half an hour to read - I've never seen steak done in so many different ways!

Good
- Young, cute country town - a little boring, but we came for the Cherries. The Cherry Festival was a non event, but the people are nice and grabbing a couple of boxes of the freshest cherries you've ever had is pure heaven.

Bad
- Woy Woy - worst fish and chips we've ever had...and from a seaside town.


I have a heap of others but would prefer to hear yours, give us some inspiration for our next journey.

 

[Fleeta]

You been outside of NSW??

How about Mollymook or Pambula if we are talking NSW - both awesome

Plenty of good ones in Victoria too - Bright, Beaconsfield, Daylesford for country, Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne for coast, the list could be very very long.

 

[Sean K]

Plenty of good ones in Victoria too - Bright, Beaconsfield, Daylesford for country, Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne for coast, the list could be very very long.

Some great picks there Fleeta. Add Port Fairy, maybe.

 

[Tink]

Yep Fleeta.

Dont forget Beechworth - gorgeous town : )

 

[Sean K]

Yep Fleeta.

Dont forget Beechworth - gorgeous town : )

Love Beechworth! Had many a Ned Kelly Pie at the Beechworth Bakery. I lived up the road in Yackandandah for a couple of years.

 

[Logique]

Victoria has got the concept nailed when it comes to country towns and villages. Superb most everywhere, I agree with all of the Vic ones people have mentioned.

My state of NSW by and large just doesn't seem to get it. Of Roland's list I would endorse Cowra, a pleasant surprise. Some hidden gems about though - the southern highlands near Sydney has Burrawang, Robertson, Bundanoon and Jamberoo. And Bowral, if you've a thick bankroll in your pocket.

And Roland is so right about Cooma, and you can throw in Jindabyne the same. Overrated, and some scary locals about the place, not welcoming to outsiders. If you want the alps-high country experience, go to Victoria instead.

Not much knowledge of other states, I was in Victor Harbour in SA some years ago, and was impressed with it.

 

[Fleeta]

Yep Fleeta.

Dont forget Beechworth - gorgeous town : )

Ooops, yep good call, I meant Beechworth, not Beaconsfield - which is actually a fairly ordinary town in North East Tassie. Actually in Tassie, I recommend Georgetown and Penguin - both nice places with their quirks.

 

[Surly]

I rode from Perth to Brisbane around the coast in December.

Good:
Apollo Bay
Lakes Entrance
Batemans Bay
Ardrossan and surrounds

Bad
Port Augusta - might be a bit big for a country town but the whole place smelt like a sewerage treatment farm
Broken Hill - Cobar - Willcannia - I am sure there is a good reason for living out there???

cheers
Surly

 

[BradK]

Yep Fleeta.

Dont forget Beechworth - gorgeous town : )

The bride was born and bred in Beechworth. Visit every year from Sydney.

Lovely spot.

Brad

 

[Boyou]

An Ex- Vic here ..although now a fully naturalized Queenslander .

I did some Motor Bike riding in my younger days...best way to apprehend the beauty spots.

Bright and Mt Beauty in the Ovens Valley still resonate with me.As does Lorne,Apollo Bay...we spent summers down that way at an idyllic little piece of paradise called the Cumberland River.

Trying not to think of the worst town I visited ..darn ..there it is ...Camooweal..Ctrl Qld..maybe it was the gazillion flies or the dust storm ..the hot beer ..cold pies ..Never going back there!

 

[Purple XS2]

Broken Hill - definitely a funny place. Knowing a couple of locals makes all the difference. Biggest human-made artifact in Australia; the old and long since mined-out-of-existence eponymous Broken Hill's tailings pile, in the middle of town. Rivals the great Pyramid.

Pinaroo (Sth Aust Mallee) friendliest town to passing strangers that I've been to. Perhaps the rain's been good when I've passed through.

Tumbarumba (NSW Sth-West slopes of the dividing range). You can't hide, you can only run.

To give Camoweal the benefit, it is on the main outback highway, so it's next to impossible to see the 'reality' behind the petrol stop.

P.

 

[Aussiest]

Worst: Holbrook - that town half way between Melbourne and Sydney. Don't know why i hate it, guess it's got something to do with the tedious drive. I don't like the bakery there either, would rather McDonalds or Hungrys.

 

[Julia]

I don't know how many ASF members are familiar with the South Island of NZ but some of you may know Arrowtown, a heritage gold mining small town about 20 minutes drive out of Queenstown. There are some original old buildings, well maintained/restored, and it's a pretty, much visited tourist spot.

Then there is Westport, a nondescript town of about 20,000 towards the top of the West Coast, boring as all hell.

When I first visited Westport, a couple of minutes out of the car I was overwhelmed with a sense of foreboding and real discomfort. Tried to suppress it, tell myself I was being ridiculous, but it persisted and I got back into the car and left. Took quite a while to shake the feeling.

About a year later I was visiting Arrowtown and suddenly had the exact same feeling there. Said to the person I was with that we had to leave. He thought I was quite mad: we'd only just arrived. I insisted and we left.

A couple of days later I happened to be talking to a local Queenstown person and mentioned this peculiar experience, in addition to the same feeling in Westport. She just nodded and said that both places are central points for the practice of black magic. There are covens, she said, in both these towns. And I was absolutely not the only person to feel the sense of evil.

Usually this is the sort of thing I'd totally dismiss, not being into this esoteric stuff, but I've never before or since felt so compelled to get away from whatever was causing that fearsome aura.

 

[Buckfont]

Aussiest, you don`t have a submarine in a very long street phobia I hope.

Favourite place apart from where I live is Alexandra. Vic
Worst, Elmsford in New York state.

 

[GumbyLearner]

Best: Birchip, VIC. Great Pub, Great people.
Beef City, Qld. Great Pub, Great Beef.
Coonabarabran, NSW. Great Pubs, Great Sky.

 

[bunyip]

Trying not to think of the worst town I visited ..darn ..there it is ...Camooweal..Ctrl Qld..maybe it was the gazillion flies or the dust storm ..the hot beer ..cold pies ..Never going back there!

I agree about Camoweal - bit of a hole but typical of many small outback towns. Windorah is another one, right away out in the Channel Country of far western QLD - I'd go mad if I had to live there.
Just for the record, Camoweal is not in central Queensland, it's right away out in the far north west of the state, a couple of hours west of Mt Isa and only a few miles to the NT border. It has the dubious honour of being Queensland's most westerly town.

 

[Wysiwyg]

Margaret River, W.A. In and around. Everyone doing their own thing, friendly shop keepers, appetising breakfasts, excellent wineries, rugged windswept cliffs and beaches, large raw ocean swells, cave exploration, cool temperatures and quiet places for contemplation.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Worst would have to be Tennant Creek in the NT.

Its like going back to Deadwood on Day 3.

gg

 

[Boyou]

I agree about Camoweal - bit of a hole but typical of many small outback towns. Windorah is another one, right away out in the Channel Country of far western QLD - I'd go mad if I had to live there.
Just for the record, Camoweal is not in central Queensland, it's right away out in the far north west of the state, a couple of hours west of Mt Isa and only a few miles to the NT border. It has the dubious honour of being Queensland's most westerly town.

Thanks for the clarification ,bunyip.
We were on a long road trip up to Darwin..the geography seems to have blurred with time.It was 1998
I agree with you ,GG .Tennant Ck would be next on my list of "armpits of the universe"

Forgot to mention a quaint little place near my home town of Ballarat.Talbot was a step back in time.The general store was still in the 20's. Sold everything from suitcases to garden tools....had those funky ladders on wheels to scoot along the floor to ceiling shelves.

It was very "authentic"..wonder if it is still there

 

[Tink]

...

Forgot to mention a quaint little place near my home town of Ballarat.Talbot was a step back in time.The general store was still in the 20's. Sold everything from suitcases to garden tools....had those funky ladders on wheels to scoot along the floor to ceiling shelves.

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Awww, I love that. There are so many places like that in Vic, too many to mention