Perfect Pub

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday March 1, 2008

It's no bull that the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton is a pub to be reckoned with.

Once owned by country music star Lee Kernaghan, the hotel boasts a covered rodeo arena that hosts sanctioned events and weekly bullriding practice nights.

It's pure old country charm, the kind of place where you expect the locals to look sideways at unknown drinkers, the beer to be cold and wine to come from a cask.

While the first two aspects may be true, there's nothing lowbrow about this joint.

The Great Western has character, has its own brilliant style and boasts some of the finest food on offer.

Rockhampton is beef country and this pub makes an art of its primary dish.

The menu is substantial (and can be teamed with damn fine wine) and you could not find a better cut of meat in any fancy Sydney restaurant.

One group of men dining at the same time as us had travelled from Canberra for the pub's mudcrabs. What better recommendation could you want?

First licenced in 1878, the hotel pays tribute to its history and the bullriding phenomenon through exhibitions on the walls of its four bars and restaurant and you can easily be caught up there for hours checking it all out.

If you head up north, put the Great Western on your list of must-sees. You'll want to keep going back.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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