The traditional New Year's Eve party in country towns comes alive at the pubs

"We will have music on the speakers, and we'd be concentrating on making good food while people are having drinks and chatting, and it'll be lots of feeds on the night," she said.

"We do at least 500 meals a week, people know my food that's why they come here, always."

Mrs Sant said she is proud her pub is one of the few operating without poker machines and she believes it is one of the reasons why locals and visitors frequent her venue.

"We don't get the bad crowd hanging around poker machines, just a crowd of decent working people, families, and campers looking for a place to relax," she said.

Mrs Sant has gone out of her way to organise a New Year's Eve party that everyone in the town can enjoy after surviving months of isolation during the pandemic and recent floods that kept locals stuck at home.

To keep partygoers safe, Mrs Sant has hired a courtesy bus for patrons because she expects New Year's Eve at the pub to be the best party in the town.

"It will be a big celebration this time, and we attract a different type of crowd of mostly families so we'll make sure they have a bus to pick them up and bring them home safely on the night," Mrs Sant said.

The hotel's staff are readying gourmet pizza in Italian and Greek flavours cooked in the stone oven and chicken parmigiana, porterhouse steak, and pork chops with chips, salad, and vegetables with most ingredients sourced from local farmers, Mrs Sant said.

At Wellington's Cow and Calf Hotel, New Year's Eve enjoyment will be curated over drinks, food, dancing, and music. The party-themed "Glow Night" will take place from 8pm up to 1am so locals, particularly the younger set don't venture out of the town.

A disc jockey from Newcastle has been hired to liven up the party with music as locals gather at the open-air dancing area, hotel owner Kelly Gersbach said.

"We want to try something different this time for the New Year's celebration. It's only now we're clawing back what we've lost during COVID shutdowns," she said.

Just as country pubs like theirs begin to recover from the pandemic, Mrs Gersbach said the rounds of interest rate hikes and high prices on groceries, rents, and bills have stopped some people from spending.

"People aren't spending and not going out as much as they used to, it's a battle for our customers," Mrs Gersbach said.

"That's why we don't do price hikes on our beer but just the normal price rise every year that we pass on to make it cheaper for our customers.

"Our regular beer price is just $5 and $8 for a pint of Guinness and our meals are typically affordable prices for schnitzels, cutlets, fish fillets, and porter steak with chips, salads and veggies.

"We offer a variety of Indian and Turkish foods as well as we see travelers and visitors looking for something new always."

Mrs Gersbach said she recently employed three backpackers to the pool of 20 staff to keep the pub running smoothly during the Christmas, New Year, and summer holidays.

"This New Year is hopefully a good one, and we really hope so because people are trying to get on with their lives after the pandemic and doing the best they can," she said.

In other news: From a tunnel tussle to flyover plans, it was a mixed year for mammoth highway project

In the little mining town of Tomingley, just 45 minutes from Dubbo, the Clubhouse Hotel opens for karaoke while Peak Hill Ex-Services and Citizens Club will open for locals to kick up their heels in a party up to midnight.

Only the town's oldest pub, Cross Roads Hotel built in 1880, will close on New Year's Day and reopen on Monday, January 2 because its owner Darryl Kennaugh will take a break to celebrate with family and friends.

"We've had a big year and it has been a pretty good year for us. We've earned enough money for the year so we're going out, enjoying ourselves and will organise something later for local families," Mr Kennaugh said.

Mr Kennaugh, a barber, said he has taken on running the pub in the last five years as he discovered it's a lucrative source of income than crimping men's hair.

Prior to taking a plunge into the hospitality business, Mr Kennaugh said he worked part-time at the pub while working as a barber.

"Now it's my main job. We're a mining town so we're always busy day and night and you only get to catch up with friends for a two minute sit down chat so we're having a break and staying out of alcohol for the day. It's family time," Mr Kennaugh said.

In other news: UTS engineers find ways to fix Dubbo's 'terrible' potholes

Mr Kennaugh's patrons are gathering at the Peak Hill club run by Adrian Glabiak and while the club's kitchen is undergoing renovations, partygoers will be served homemade pies heated up in the microwave and snacks with their drinks.

"We are expecting 40 to 100 people and that is a big crowd for us while everyone else is having their parties at home or elsewhere," he said.

"It's nothing crazy and obviously not as big as what you get in Dubbo," Mr Glabiak said.

But the music from the Riff Raff Band will turn their pub party into a special occasion for locals to indulge in till the wee hours, Mr Glabiak said.