Over the past 5 years, the Gerogery Hotel has become renowned for its big meals, jokes and excellent service.
Story + Photos Stuart Walmsley
A short stroll along Main Street in Gerogery, southern NSW, will expose you to its 3 people-facing businesses: a pub, a post office/shop and a doll museum. “It’s all you need, really,” laughs Gerogery Hotel co-owner Norm Carl. “But maybe do them in reverse order.”
This town of around 700 residents, and its unique cross-section of commerce, is just 30km north of Albury. The pub, with its distinctive red-brick facade, sits adjacent to the Olympic Highway and attracts a combination of locals and travellers using the well-worn track between Wagga Wagga and the NSW/Victorian border.
“This used to be quite a rough pub,” Norm says. “It was very tight in the front bar and intimidating – one of those places that when you walked in, everyone would turn around and say, ‘Who the hell are you?’ There never used to be a kitchen, either, and they’d wheel the food down in a wheelbarrow from the shop so everyone could get their tucker.”
Since taking over with his partner Lisa Walters in early 2020, Norm has turned the ‘G-Rodge’, as it’s known to regulars, into one of the Riverina’s most renowned watering holes. Although the couple had no previous hospitality experience, they bought the leasehold mainly to use as a shopfront for their gift hamper business. “Our early focus was on the hamper side of things, but we soon realised that it was the pub that needed to be fed,” Norm says.
Thankfully, the business wasn’t the only thing around Gerogery with an appetite, and the hotel’s substantial meals and eating challenges are one of the main drivers behind its growing reputation.
This story excerpt is from Issue #159
Outback Magazine: February/March 2025
