Flinders Benders

With a pint and a parma in each hand, GEORGE DUNFORD sunk a few Coopers at the reinvented pubs in the Flinders Ranges.

In the big smoke they’d be called gastro-pubs, but blokes out here think that’s a stomach condition. The new generation of country pubs aren’t afraid to serve a cultural cliché with a side order of irony and polish it off with some top-shelf accommodation. Sure, you can occasionally still hear the bling-bling-bling of the pokies, but breathe in and you’ll inhale the new flavours wafting through these historic pubs – plus with South Australia’s anti-smoking legislation you won’t leave smelling like an ashtray. And the pleasures don’t stop at the dining room, with some of these places renovating the guts out of their rooms to create hidden boutique hotels upstairs.

Prairie Hotel,
ParachilnaThe glamour puss of the country pub set is the Prairie, where Kate Winslett bunked down to make Holy Smoke and the spot that Hippest Hotels magazine recently laid their dusty hat. Completely renovated in 1996, the apartment-style rooms are partly dug into the ground, offering unique ground-level views of the long, sweeping plains used in Rabbit Proof Fence. Price tag looking a bit too steep for Kate’s suite? Bunk down with Clancy in the “Overflow Cabins” that have cooking facilities and a few home comforts.
They really appreciate native wildlife by serving up dishes like a feral antipasto platter (emu pate, camel snags, smoked roo and a wallop of Turkish bread) and add a dash of bush tucker to everything. With the road kill at the top of the menu, vegetarians aren’t totally forgotten, with an emu egg and vegetable frittata in a snappy warrigal pesto.
WHERE: Parachilna. (08) 8648 4844, www.prairiehotel.com.au
HOW MUCH: To sleep in Kate’s suite you’ll be parting with $195, but the caravan park style of the Overflow will only set you back $60-80. A main meal in the restaurant is pretty affordable for $9-15, a feral antipasto will share for two at $26.

Austral Inn, Quorn
Just across from the rejuvenated Richi Pichi Railway, this old charmer was one of three main street pubs that quenched the thirst of railway travellers. With the iconic railway running from Port Augusta again, the Austral has found new punters to drag in the door; locals pop in for pizza (including a meaty load of rare steak or roo), while grey nomads poke down quandong pie and a cuppa. Backpackers love the refitted corrugated iron ambience with a loungy soundtrack and get into the Bush and Bay – a mix of prawns and roo swimming in garlic sauce.
The renovation hasn’t crept upstairs, but it’s only matter of time before the basic pub rooms are transformed into boutique accommodation.
WHERE: 16 Railway Terrace, Quorn. (08) 8648 6017.
HOW MUCH: Basic rooms upstairs are affordable for $40. In the dining room you’ll be forking out anything from $12 for a pizza to $18 for a steak.

Blinman Hotel, Blinman
Buried in an old copper mining town, this little gem has plenty of appeal to drag you over the dirt road from Parachilna or up the log expanse through Flinders Ranges National Park. History is literally wall-to-wall, with fossickers’ photos papering the walls in the main bars. Upstairs the rooms are as expansive as the outback, but have homey touches to make it more like a luxury B&B.
You won’t have to dig too deep for a bite either with the menu showcasing bush ingredients such as the lamb cutlets chargrilled in eucalyptus oil, or, wrap your laughing gear round a baby barra baked with lemon myrtle to sharpen the flavour. Still haven’t got your tastebuds pumping? Then opt for the ironically Australian Parma – a slab of chicken or beef with a Roma sauce and stringy mozzarella. If you reckon you could do better yourself, then come along for the Camp Oven Cook-off, held every October and featuring traditional Aboriginal cooking and 4WD hooning.
WHERE: Main St, Blinman. (08) 8648 4867, www.blinmanhotel.com.au
HOW MUCH: The rooms upstairs will only set you back a lazy $100, while for a main downstairs the Blinman will hit you up for $12-21.

A Qua-what?
Bush tucker has been taking off in city restaurants, but according to quandong grower Bill Tulloch, there’s not enough of it. There are only a few places in Australia that actually grow bush tucker like lemon myrtle, bush pepper and the fruity quandong. Tulloch makes a jam and a dessert sauce using quandongs, or bush peaches, which traditionally have been gathered by the Adnyamathanha (or “Hill People”) in the Flinders Ranges. Tulloch began the Quandong Café in Quorn and (further up the highway in Copley) the Quandong Bakery, which both use the apricot-tasting native fruit as a secret ingredient in their pastries. With the help of a horticulturalist mate, Tulloch plans to create the world’s first quandong orchard in Quorn to tackle the supply problem. Soon jars of quandong jam could be appearing on supermarket shelves across the country.