When he wasn’t wrestling crocodiles, romancing reporters and fighting criminals, there was nothing Mick “Crocodile” Dundee liked more than to kick back with a nice cool beer in the company of his mates Wally and Donk at the Walkabout Creek Hotel.
Old-school watering holes like Crocodile Dundee’s or the one in our featured image (courtesy of South Australia) are the traditional focal point of Aussie Outback towns. They’re the places where people gather to have a few beers and catch up on all the local gossip. It takes real character to live and work in as tough an environment as the Outback, so it’s no surprise to find these kinds of places stuffed with big, big personalities.
Located in remote and isolated towns, these pubs aren’t easy to visit – the Outback’s nothing if not expansive! So it’s good news that one South Australia tour company has come up with a novel way of visiting lots of them in one big hit – an Outback pub crawl (it’s a pdf).
Naturally, this is no ordinary pub crawl! Rather than hopping from bar to bar on foot, you’re transported around in a mid-sized twin-propeller aircraft (a Fairchild Metro II turbo prop, to be precise). There are stops in Marree, Innamincka, Birdsville, William Creek (home to Australia’s most isolated pub) and Glendambo.
To join in you’ll have to hand over more than a fist full of Australian dollars too. The tours cost AUS$3,100, which works out at a little over £2,000 per person. For that, you get transfers to and from Adelaide airport (where the tour starts and finishes), two nights of accommodation, all your meals and a guided tour. If you’re partaking in the “amber nectar” – and let’s face it, you will – you’ll need to bring beer money too.
Given how much it costs, it’s good to know the tour isn’t limited to just pubs and their towns. The pilots also fly you nice and low over several scenic spots such as the Flinders Ranges (described as South Australia’s backbone), the Coongie Lakes (a protected wetland) and Lake Eyre (Australia’s largest lake, famous for teeming with bird life).
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