Bus stops ... Tungamah Hotel.Credit:Tim Richards
Tim Richards raises a toast at the Kelly Gang's local and drinks in the history on a hotel hunt with a twist.
From where I'm sitting,I can easily see the sombrero,taunting me with its lurid shade of purple.
The brightly coloured hat is the means by which the Country Pub Tour guide,Wade McPherson,gets his passengers quickly back on the bus. Whoever is last aboard the vehicle has to wear the sombrero into the next pub visited."It used to be a cowboy hat,"McPherson says,"but this one gets them on faster."
Luckily,since I'm the only person on today's seven-hour tour,Wade and his driver,Ged Vennix,have decided to let me off the sombrero rule,otherwise I'd be wearing it all day.
From Yarrawonga,90 kilometres west of Albury-Wodonga on the Murray River,there are regular wine tours to such locations as Rutherglen. In 2010,however,McPherson sensed a gap in the market.
"Both of us were unemployed at the time,"he says,"and I thought,'Not everyone drinks wine - we'll do pub tours.'The pubs love it. It's a good day out,a bit of fun."
Beyond having a drink in the sort of towns you'd never spot from the Hume Freeway,tour members learn about the historic and social nature of these watering holes."No poker machines,no TAB and most of them are over 100 years old,"McPherson says."In these little places they're the centre of town — if you want to know something,you go to the pub."
The first one we lob into on this sunny Tuesday is the Boorhaman Hotel,a long,low building whose interior is decorated with novelty items,including shields bearing the heads of big,ugly fish.
It brews its own beer in the in-house Buffalo Brewery. The lager tastes pretty good and the barmaid also gives me a sample of the popular ginger ale,which is just as alcoholic. It's not too sweet and has a distinct gingery edge.