Sexy santas, reindeer ears and pointy red hats have been gathering in Wollongong for one splendid Saturday each December for 24 years – this year it will be December 9.
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The Santa Claus Pub Crawl is the longest continual pub crawl in the world with over 10,000 people expected to attend this weekend and raise thousands for Salvation Army programs in the Illawarra.
Event organiser Neil Webster (aka Santa Claws) said as the event has grown to epic proportions this year’s focus was patrons having a “Plan B” because the party will put a strain on the transport system.
“The numbers of people we get now mean we’re far exceeding what’s available in public transport, although we’ve got Uber now which is a bonus but there’s still not enough cabs or cars to service the number of people who come to this event,” he said.
“The motto I’ve had since day one was ‘nobody goes home alone’. That started out for different reasons but now it’s become just as important in terms people do get home safely.”
Revellers have bought tickets from all over Australia and as far as Singapore, Honk Kong, New Zealand and the USA. The biggest increases in numbers this year are actually from regional NSW with patrons travelling from Griffith, Dubbo and Young.
While Mr Webster said the age demographic was shifting to attract older crowds with the inclusion of many of Wollongong’s new small bars such as Heyday and Humber on the crawl.
Transport options to the Wollongong pub crawl include the South Coast line train to North Wollongong, the free green Gong Shuttle until 6pm, other bus services heading north and south, taxis, Uber while booking accommodation is also an option.
For the map CLICK HERE.
For the transport CLICK HERE.
Pub Crawl Itinerary
12pm onwards
- North Wollongong Hotel
- Balgownie Hotel
- Brewhouse @ Ilawarra Brewing Co
- Charles Hotel
- Figtree Hotel
- Coniston Hotel
- Towradgi Beach Hotel – (recommended for families)
- The Illawarra Brewery
- Pepe’s on the Beach
4pm onwards:
- Heyday
- Humber
- Town Hall Chamber
7.30pm - onwards
- Illawarra Hotel
- The Swallowed Anchor
- Red Square
- Dicey Riley’s
- Asahi Bar
- Howlin Wolf
9pm - onwards
- Fever
- Ron De Vu
- Heyday
The BigWheelz Party Buses will provide a shuttle service around all the involved venues – with 8 buses constantly circulating from 4pm-3am.
Entry wristbands are required to hop-on the buses throughout the night.