When it comes to great country towns, one state rules over all others

The pizzas are good at Hometown in Bright. They’re maybe not the best you’ve ever had in your life, but they’re a solid 8 out of 10, maybe 8.5, with charred, spongy crusts and interesting toppings.

The meatballs at Hometown are also very good. The stracciatella is delicious.

But still, that’s not what’s to love about Hometown. It’s the cosy interior, the big wooden tables, the bench space to throw your coats and beanies, the just-dark-enough lighting. It’s the staff who pitch their service perfectly, friendly but also just getting the job done.

There’s a moment for my family as we sit in one of those booths in Hometown and scrape up the meatball sauce with wads of wood-fired bread and we say to each other: come on. Why can’t we have just one place like Hometown in our own hometown? Why do they have to hog all the good stuff in Victoria?

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Bright is up in Victoria’s alpine region, the nearest jumping-off point to the Falls Creek and Mt Hotham ski resorts, as well as Mt Buffalo and Alpine National Park. The town has a population of only 2600, though with Beechworth, King Valley and other local bases around here, it has 30,000 beds for tourists, so it’s maybe not your average sleepy little hamlet.

Still, I live in a regional city in NSW of almost 200,000 people, and there are very few venues that could hold a candle to Hometown. Certainly not within a 20-minute drive of my house, which doesn’t seem fair at all.

I also grew up in multiple country towns in Queensland, so I know a thing or two about these places. I know I didn’t try sushi until I was in my 20s because that wasn’t a thing you could ever hope to be served in Gladstone back in the day. I drank my first cappuccino when I moved to Brisbane to go to university because few Italian migrants ever set up shop in central Queensland.

So I do feel qualified to judge the greatness of a regional town in Australia. I can clock pretty quickly if this is a place I want to spend more time in, if it has charm and genuine attractiveness, or if I need to just grab a sausage roll from the servo and move on.

I have some theories about why, which I will share later in this story, but for now, let’s just consider the riches. I grew up in Gladstone and Bundaberg, with a stint in Mackay. I live in Gosford. Victoria, meanwhile, has Daylesford and Castlemaine, Kyneton and Red Hill. It has Beechworth and Ballarat, Rutherglen and Bright. It has Bendigo and Port Fairy, Woodend and Torquay.

And it has all these towns smooshed into just 3 per cent of Australia’s landmass, meaning you as a visitor or even a local can very easily visit one of these places or many in a short holiday and enjoy all they have to offer: the bushranger history, the rugged coastline, the wineries, the art galleries, the classic rolling landscapes, the boutique hotels, the restaurants, the cafes, the bars.

Country towns in the rest of Australia just don’t have all this stuff.