Royal Hotel Meandarra

After a really good night in Leyburn (salad shaming aside), we headed off for the next stop on the Tour: the Royal Hotel Meandarra.

Before heading straight to Meandarra we had one due-diligence stop to make. From everything I could tell, I was pretty sure the Royal Hotel Inglewood was closed. But we figured we were close enough it was worth a check. Turned out it was indeed well and truly closed. Luckily Inglewood is also home to an awesome little bakery and a brisket and Bundy pie made the detour more than worthwhile.

From Inglewood, though it was a 3-hour drive out to Meandarra. And the Google directed route included almost exclusively gravel and dirt roads often with less-than-comforting amounts of water across them. These were roads our wanky Mercedes SUV probably never expected to see and probably never will again.

Eventually we did arrive in Meandarra around lunchtime, a few minutes before the website-indicated opening time. However, opening time came and there was no indication that anyone was going to show up to open the pub. Seeing as how it was 3 hours out to Meandarra and 3 hours to our next stop in Toowoomba, we were less than thrilled.

Luckily there was a sandwich-board sign out front with a phone number on it and John took a crack. After all, it had worked at Wentworth and Horsham. He spoke to a lady who said she could open up to sell us some takeaway. John explained the ludicrous mission we were on and she apparently went to go consult someone else. When she came back she said ‘Ok, someone will be down in 15 – 20 minutes’. As John was about to say thank you, that someone shouted ‘I’ll be there in 10’. It was at that point we had our first inklings that we may have a pretty good publican and a pretty good Royal on our hands.

True to his word, almost exactly 10 minutes later, the publican ‘Tunna’ showed up and ushered us directly in to the pub. The Royal Hotel Meandarra is an absolute classic of a pub. Corrugated metal bar, a fire place for the cool winter evenings, and taps coming straight out of the cool room in a way that seems like it’s unique to Queensland pubs.

There was cool stuff on the walls too. It hit the trifecta with a uniquely named local sports team, bespoke Royal signage, and beer-related stained glass windows. This was definitely a pub that was the heart of the community. They definitely got that right on the sign.

But really the highlight of the Royal Hotel Meadarra was Tunna himself. He was genuinely interested in our trip and the Tour as a whole and what we were up to. And you definitely got the feeling that he would be just as interested in everyone who pulled up a stool to that bar. He was just a really good guy and a really good publican. We’ve had the good fortune to run into some really really good publicans on this Tour. And Tunna is probably one of the best of that already good group. Right up there with Grant from Horsham.

One of the things we often do when we get into one of these small towns is to have a guess at the population and see which of us is the closest. The ABS thinks it’s 244 for Meandarra. But Tunna immediately said ‘It’s 102, we counted the other week.’ As we were expressing how impressed we were that he was so quick with that info, he follow up with ‘Oh, actually, it’s 101, one of the old blokes passed away the other day’.

We sat and hung out for a couple rounds of XXXX. We chatted with Tunna. And we bought a bunch of Royal Hotel Meandarra merchandise (a shirt each for me and Bert and a stubby holder for John). But, after staying more than twice as long as we intended to, we did have to start thinking about getting back on the road. We asked Tunna to take a photo of us for the blog and he said ‘why don’t you guys get behind the bar for the picture’. Because of course he did. Tunna is awesome.

We followed up with a couple outside as well, because Tunna was well onboard with the Royal Tour and wanted to make sure we documented it properly. But regrettably, we did finally have to get back on the road. The Royal Hotel Meandarra is a top Royal though and really made the 3 hours out there and 3 hours to the next stop more than worth it. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I’m pretty confident that it will be making an appearance on our next Top 10 list.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Meandarra, QLD
• Population: 244 (101 in the town itself)
• Date Visited: Friday, April 4, 2025
• Visited By: Cory, John and Bert
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: XXXX
• Beer Consumed at Pub: XXXX Gold
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $7.50
• Unique Award: First Royal They Let Us Behind the Bar
• Tour Progress: 63.0% (85/135)