George Washington slept here

Eventually, you will have to pull yourself off our free couch and investigate places far enough away to have to pay for lodging. There are posh hotels and chain motels aplenty. A liberal sprinkling of IYH hostels and grotty backpacker lodgings. Skip all those boring options. Stay at the same place George Washington did.

Welllll, not exactly where George slept [I cannot tell a lie, either] but in the kind of places that only existed in his day in the U.S. Think: the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, Ohio. More than a rest stop. It is a bar, restaurant, hotel, meeting place, entertainment center and the fulcrum of the area.

In Australia, they are called country pubs. I've mentioned these establishments before for their cheap eats on a large platter. Until the last couple of decades, every pub was required to have sleeping space for its liquored up patrons. And then the states got tough: they lowered the blood alcohol rate to .05 and pushed responsibility onto the drinker instead of the publican. The big cities were the first to ditch low profit sleep rooms and some cinderblock country pubs don't have them,either.
But there are many of these grand, glorious (and creaky with age) buildings remaining. Many are easily recognized by their similar architecture in one town after another. The top floor, where the rooms are, have verandas for guests to hang out on. The interiors are made with richly colored native wood like jarrah, karri and marri.

Some of the staircases are jaw dropping. They rise centrally and then split in opposing directions halfway up (very high ceilings give way to such extravagance.) The Empire Hotel in Launceston, Tasmania has its stairwell listed on the National Trust --the entire reason we stayed there. Squint when you go inside, the carpet is a bit threadbare, not every corner has a spit-shine and the cutlery in the dining room is not the Queen's pattern. Who cares? I feel like royalty is these very affordable, comfy as an old shoe places. I don't even mind going down and around the corridor to find the showers and rest rooms --which you will indeed do in any authentic colonial hotel.

Represented here are some of the more distinctive hotels. But there are surprises inside ones that rate zero in the visuals category. Originally furnished with old stuff picked up locally, those same rooms (with the same furnishings) start to remind you of a cross between a cowboy western movie and an antique showroom--again with great native woods playing a star role.

We attended a weekend event at the Wongan Hills Civic Hotel pictured here on the right. Christmas in July. No heat. Six wool blankets. Bathrooms across the hall. Next stop Outback. I loved it!

Glamour shot of the hotel at New Norcia-the only monastic town in Oz. Founded in 1846 by Spanish Benedictine monks and still run by them today. The hotel was originally built for families of the students of now-closed schools, now even the old student dorms are available for groups. In almost the middle of nowhere, creaking & threadbare, central staircase, bathrooms down the hall, huge verandas, monks in the next building, bikers and locals hanging out on the cracked tile porch making lively conversation and joyful noise. Holiday Inn just doesn't come close.