Landscapers Wade Fletcher and Tayt Syme visiting every SA pub for a beer
These SA two tradies have brewed up a bold plan to drink at every pub in the state. Now, nearly 200 hotels in, they’ve revealed their top 10 (so far) and the eye-watering tab.
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Two beer-loving landscapers have made it their mission to visit all 687 pubs across the state in a bid to support local businesses while seeing all the sights South Australia has to offer.
In January 2022, Wade Fletcher, 30, and Tayt Syme, 29, made a New Year’s resolution to visit every pub in South Australia for a pint, and with nearly 200 pubs ticked off so far, the two have a lot more beer drinking to come.
“We’ve figured out there’s 687 pubs we need to visit altogether,” Wade said. “So far, we’ve ticked off 173.”
Sharing their journey on their Instagram page, the pair have travelled all over the state, including Roxby Downs, Streaky Bay, Port Lincoln, Coober Pedy and the Flinders Ranges.
“It all started as a bit of a New Year’s resolution on the first day of 2022,” Wade said.
“We were in Kangaroo Island at the time, and managed to tick off our first three pubs during that trip.”
Of the 173 they’ve seen so far, the pair have narrowed down their top ten country pubs, hoping other people will be inspired to take the journey to the rural parts of the state to see these incredible venues.
“Our favourite would have to be the Overland Corner Hotel,” Wade said. “It just had a great feel to it.”
Closely following their top pick, Wade and Tayt are big fans of the Parndana Hotel in Kangaroo Island, the Prairie Hotel in the Flinders Ranges, the Leigh Creek Hotel and the Commercial Hotel in Strathalbyn.
The list also includes the Port Lincoln Hotel, the Streaky Bay Hotel, the Glendambo Hotel, and the Desert Cave Hotel at Coober Pedy.
“That one’s actually a hotel underground,” Wade said. “It’s literally a cave. We’d never seen anything like that before.”
Running for over 150 years, the pub in Palmer – which is about 70km from Adelaide in the Murraylands – welcomed the boys’ venture, and encouraged others to travel out to rural locations.
Publican Jade Cooke said Wade and Tayt were making a difference because they’re enjoying a traditional pub experience everywhere they go – something that can be lost in the hustle and bustle of city living.
“When you go to a country pub, you have a chat with the staff, with the locals. You’re able to instantly learn more about that place and it’s just a sense of real community,” Ms Cooke said.
“A traditional pub gives you that feeling of almost being at home – you’re so comfortable there and you can really just relax and enjoy it.
“We’re in a rural town with no beach, no river view, but we do have a great beer garden, amazing food and an all-round great place.
“It’s important to get out and see the rural pubs, and (Wade and Tayt) were great because they’re getting the younger people out to experience these kinds of places.”
The pair have calculated once they tick off the other 514 other pubs on their list, they’d be looking at a total cost of about $6183 each – and that’s just the price of beer alone.
“It’s not the cheapest venture. I think for our trip to Roxby Downs it was about $200 each way just for petrol,” Wade said.
“We probably would have spent about $600-700 on that trip alone. But honestly, it’s absolutely worth it.”
They also said the price of beer was more expensive the closer to the city they came.
“It’s probably because the locals will support the country pubs, and the pubs look after the locals.”
Dedicating their weekend and holidays to visit as many places as possible, the pair have an interesting way of picking which venue they’ll travel to next.
“We’ve actually got a book that’s just a list of pubs in the state,” Wade said.
“We write them down, then pick one out of a hat and if we can get there and back in a weekend, we go. We save the ones that are further away for our long weekends.
“We’ve actually had a few people recognise us when we get to a place which is pretty cool,” the duo said.
“What we would really like to do with this adventure is start holding some events for the community in these rural venues. We want to start fundraising – not for us, we don’t need it – but it would be great to use this platform to raise money for charities.
“We’d really like to raise money for people struggling with homelessness, or children going through cancer treatment,” Wade said.
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