In 2019, a Queensland couple began the ultimate pub crawl, aiming to visit every single pub in Australia.
Now, five years into their anticipated eight-year journey, Andrew and Ursula Keesey have visited over 2,900 Aussie pubs, averaging around three each day.
The last pub visit, at time of writing, was the Dargan Hotel, which the local community recently purchased and revived.
Originally Ursula’s idea, the couple were told it was an impossible task.
But with a love of travel and local pubs, they gave it a go. With meticulous planning, they have now visited every pub in their home state as well as South Australia, Northern Territory and to date almost all of Western Australia.
The Keeseys are guided by three principles: the venue must be licensed, they must have at least one drink at the venue, and the visit must be documented.
Posting their adventures on Instagram, the couple share each pub’s highlights.
From this, publicans are occasionally expecting the duo’s visit, welcoming them with a drink on the house and a good yarn.
Favouring character-filled pubs in tiny towns, their idea of the perfect pub begins with an essential – a great publican. This is closely followed by excellent staff and chatty locals, a good community and live music.
“We’ve had so many pubs tell us that, ‘since Covid we’ve stopped live music’, but Covid finished years ago. It feels like an excuse,” Andrew told Broadsheet.
Currently their plans are to finish the Western Australia tour before heading to Sydney for a break.
In the new year, they plan to visit their 4,000th pub, in Victoria, followed by the 5,000th in Tasmania before finishing the epic road trip in Sydney.
The Keeseys hope the trip will help inspire more people to get back out travelling and patronising their locals.
