Relax in an Aussie institution

By GRAHAM REID

The woman at immigration had every reason to be surly. It was Australia Day and outside in the balmy heat Sydneysiders were celebrating. On this special Sunday she was stuck behind a counter scanning passports, getting a neon tan while the queues lengthened.

But as she looked over my arrival document she immediately brightened. "Oh, the Australian," she beamed when she saw the name of the hotel we were staying in. "Ya gotta try the pizzas. The feta ones are great. Enjoy your stay there, I'll bet you do."

And so we passed through the soulless baggage claim area and caught the train to Circular Quay knowing that, if nothing else, the famous Australian Hotel in the Rocks had decent pizzas.

In Sydney you are spoiled for hotel accommodation, but most are as bereft of spirit as an airport baggage claim area. People stride through the swish lobbies barely acknowledging each other, the staff are professionally friendly but disengaged, and one room looks much like any other. Guests in the lounges keep to themselves or huddle in small, impenetrable groups.

But there is another accommodation option where you can natter with locals, feel like the staff actually care, and rub shoulders with one of Australia's most venerable institutions: the pub.

It is in those famous tiled corner bars open to the street where you can learn which politician is a bloody ratbag, what league player is a bloody mongrel, and hear that vague tinge of sympathy in the reply when you say you are from New Zealand.

Pubs are the soul of Australian cities. The beers are cold and good, the company almost unnaturally friendly, and the interiors cool when outside it can be sweltering.

Given the many merits of pubs it's surprising not more people stay in them. Perhaps because we have lost the tradition of pubstay in this country we think it doesn't happen any more.

But across Australia there are hundreds - a dozen in central Sydney - offering cheap accommodation and a homely service, the bar downstairs where you can find out about the bloody ratbags and mongrels, and - in the case of the Australian - pizzas of feta, crocodile and kangaroo worth telling others about.

The Australian is nestled under the shoulder of the Harbour Bridge, a few minutes' walk from the Rocks and Circular Quay, and only has 10 rooms for guests. At A$125 ($136) a night for a room with a fan, a comfortable bed, and breakfast, it is a steal.

With an old world ambience - reinforced by leatherbound books and sepia photographs in the comfortable lounge - the Australian has the feel of an old family home. They thoughtfully provide free port and sherry in chintzy decanters for that late night drink while watching television or flicking the pages of a 1960s Australian Woman's Weekly.

The place is scrupulously clean, the bathrooms lean towards the modern, and guests are provided with a key for separate street entry to their upstairs rooms. There is a large kitchen-cum-dining area and a terrace on the roof from which, if you stand on tiptoes, you can spot the top of the Opera House. The Bridge is right there.

Built in the Edwardian Federation style in 1913, it can be loud until closing time - it is popular with locals and the word is out on the gourmet pizzas - but you forgive that when you can buy 80 different kinds of Australian beer across the wooden bar and chat with the friendly staff or patrons.

The Australian is just one of many hotels which offer accommodation almost all of which are - with one notably beachy exception - around central Sydney. The nationwide Pubstay scheme, backed by the Australian Hotels Association, offers dozens of hotel accommodation options from the 19th-century Tibooburra Hotel in the Outback, to Maitland's Imperial just 20 minutes from the wine region of the Hunter Valley.

The Occidental on York St (A$80 [$87] a night for a double room, no breakfast) is located within two minutes of Wynyard Station and directly across from a major bus depot. In the early morning the rooms, all of which face the streets, can be a little noisy but they are spacious and clean. The water supply in the showers seemed somewhat erratic, but the staff are cheerful and you can take a table on the street to watch the passing parade. It's likely you'll be somewhere else - shopping probably - in the middle of the day which is a shame, their lunches are excellent.

In picturesque Manly a comfortable 20-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay is the famous Steyne Hotel which dominates the corner of the Corso and Ocean Beach. The Steyne is legendary in Sydney, as much for its huge meals (roast dinners, the massive burgers, bottomless cups of tea and coffee at breakfast) as for the ambience of Kelly's Bar (lounge bar) or Harry's Gym (sports bar). There's an outdoor bistro round the back and double room rates run from A$110 ($120) in the rear courtyard to ocean view suites A$187 ($204). The backpacker option is a mere A$35 ($38) and all prices include their substantial breakfast - although be warned, on weekdays breakfast finishes at an alarmingly early 9am.

The Steyne also has live bands frequently - we happily missed the covers band Big Ben - but we were hardly disturbed by the noise from directly below. These old hotels have very thick walls behind their period wallpaper and quaint light switches.

So, if the idea of conversation, downhome comfort, old world charm and a busy bar literally on your doorstep all appeal then you could do a lot worse than check out the pub options. And if you are in Sydney make your way to the Australian anyway. Even if you don't stay there we suggest you should at least try the pizzas.

There's a woman at immigration who thinks so, too.

Case notes:
* The Australian Hotel: ph 61-29247 2229
* Hotel Occidental: ph 61-2-9299 2531
* The Steyne Hotel: ph 61-2-9977 4977
* Other hotels worth investigating in central Sydney include the Macquarie Hotel on Wentworth Ave near Darling Harbour and Chinatown (61-2-9264 9888); the Mercantile near the Rocks at 25 George St (61-2-9247 3570); O'Malley's near Kings Cross (61-2-9357 2211) or The Grand Hotel on Hunter St near Circular Quay
(61-2-9232 3755)
*For further information on the Pubstay programme contact The Australian Hotels Association ph 61 2 9281 6922.



* Graham Reid paid for all his accommodation.