Royal Hotel Sea Lake

After a somewhat calm and relaxing night in Kerang, we were up bright and early the next morning and on our way to the next Royal of the trip, the Royal Hotel Sea Lake.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, we were up and off a little bit too bright and a little bit too early. We arrived in Sea Lake at about 10am. The Royal Hotel Sea Lake, however, apparently doesn’t open until 11am. This well and truly threw a spanner in the works of our carefully curated travel plans. But luckily there was a bit to do in Sea Lake to burn the hour before opening. Sea Lake, like a several communities in that part of Australia, has some truly awesome silo art. So I wandered down to have a look while the others were getting coffes.

Sea Lake’s other claim to fame is also where it got its name. Lake Tyrell is a salt lake on the outskirts of town that has been used for commercial salt production. It’s extremely shallow and offers some pretty awesome reflections when the weather is right.

As for the Royal itself, it has a pretty cool story as well. In 2017 the Royal (the only pub in town) shut down. But a year later, when the building was going to auction, a group of locals banded together and bought the pub. A year after that, after some extensive clean up and refurbishment, the Royal Hotel Sea Lake re-opened as a community owned pub. The first one of those we’ve had on the Tour.

When we finally got the chance to go in for a beer, it was worth the wait. The interior is very nicely done up. There’s a ton of space in the main bar with exposed brick and wood paneling. The pool room towards the back was pretty cool too.

However, if we’re picking one feature of the pub that stood out the most, I know John was particularly enamoured with the olde timey toilets. And these didn’t even have tiles like the one in his nan’s house like the Royal in Wallerawang.

So we settled in with our schooners about an hour later than planned (I will learn to properly read opening hours one of theses days). We went with a tall table right by the front windows to watch the world of Sea Lake go by.

One other area where the Royal Hotel Sea Lake excelled was in its merchandise selection (have I mentioned that we love Royal merchandise?). They had everything from your standard hats and stubby holders, to custom license plates. Personally, I walked out of the pub with a fetching Sea Lake scarf (which I believe is also a first for the Tour).

The Royal Hotel Sea Lake is one of those Royals on the Tour that we hit just as they opened. So we probably didn’t do it justice. But you could tell that the vibe of the place on a weekend evening would probably be pretty awesome. I don’t think I would quite put this one in the ‘we could’ve stayed there all day’ category. But it does fit more than comfortably in the ‘would definitely come back’ category.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Sea Lake, VIC
• Population: 619
• Date Visited: Sunday, October 20, 2024
• Visited By: Cory, John, Jordy and Anthony
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Pirate Life Pale Ale
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $11.50
• Unique Award: Best Community Owned Royal
• Tour Progress: 52.5% (73/139)