Australia – I’d go again in a shot

In his weekly The Bar Man column, Jeff Hoyle discusses his recent holiday down under…Tempting as it is to go on forever about Australia, perhaps it is time for an audit. Six flights, about 2,000 kilometres of driving. Thirteen stopping places in a variety of towns and cities, two brewery tours, a football game between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City, a rugby game between Western Force and Queensland Reds, one stadium tour (Sydney cricket ground) two haircuts, countless museums and galleries and lots of mostly wild animals. Kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, quokkas, koalas, echidnas and best of all, wombats. Pademelons and quokkas are small marsupials, kind of fun-sized kangaroos. There were also Tasmanian devils in the ‘unzoo’ we visited.My overall impression was that it was much less ‘Australian’ than I expected. People were polite and pleasant and no more in your face than the north of England. The food was generally good, though the most dangerous animal I encountered was a piece of seriously undercooked chicken. Many of the sights were awesome, such as the classic view of Sydney Opera House with the harbour bridge in the background, close enough to see the antlike figures walking over the top.

Beer-wise wise it was slightly disappointing. Most of the craft beer bars we rooted out were bare brick, exposed pipes, high tables and beer that was cold, fizzy and tasted of mango. In Hobart, we took a tour of the wonderful Cascade Brewery, the oldest in the country. A traditional tower construction, it was updated to produce lots of different brews, but they were all cold and fizzy.In the north of the island, we toured James Boags Brewery, again a long-established company now owned by a multinational giant and very modern inside the historic shell. Once again, their draught products were cold and fizzy, but they did produce a limited-edition bottle of English-style ale made with Kentish hops, Called Wizard Smith. It was the only really good ale I found on the trip. Other than that, a bottle of Penguin Emperor Ale from the Penguin brewery in the town of Penguin in Tasmania was very drinkable. So, don’t go for the beer, but do go.Apart from the sports, the highlights for me were Canberra, which is not on most people’s list, being a relatively modern planned city, but one where you can watch a debate in the new parliament and tour behind the scenes in the old parliament before taking in the breathtaking war memorial and museum. Tasmania has its own distinct character, and it was noticeable that many products were advertised as Tasmanian rather than Australian. It was the place for wildlife, with the wild wombats at Cradle Mountain being especially wonderful, so much so that we spent a couple of weeks looking for the best plush wombat toy to bring home. She is called Georgina.While all the cities had much to offer, I thought Adelaide was especially delightful, and it turned out that the person who greeted us in the cathedral was a fellow alumnus of Bury Grammar School. We completed our trip in Perth, which seemed poorer and more edgy that some cities, but was a short train ride from Fremantle which is a delightful town and the jumping off place for Rottness Island, teeming with quokkas. It was 39 degrees when we boarded the plane on Thursday evening for the 18-hour trip back home. A faster than usual flight saw us circling Heathrow before the airport opened at 4.30am and the trip was over. Would I go again? Like a shot… if there weren’t so many other places to explore.