While you may have caught a train in the past, have you ever stayed in an Airbnb made from one?
This historic train carriage reimagined into a boutique cabin is an off-the-grid destination on the rugged and pristine West Coast of South Australia.
It came to be with Tara Rowe and her partner Luke who have lived on a farm on the West Coast of SA for almost seven years.
“We always had a desire to build a unique and sustainable accommodation option on our farm at some point after building our own straw bale home,” Tara says.
“One day Luke found himself scrolling Gumtree and came across a listing in the nearby tiny town of Coulta of 195 residents where someone was selling off a bunch of odds and ends.
“We went along and found the carriage sitting in a paddock and snapped it up straight away for an absolute steal.
“We jumped at the opportunity – one man’s trash!”
Tara says the carriage was in awful condition, but they saw potential with its good bones and original Oregon floorboards.
Located right by the famous Greenly Rock Pools and just a drive away from Coffin Bay and Port Lincoln, The Greenly Carriage is a gorgeous retreat only a few hundred metres from Tara and Josh’s home.
“The train carriage itself shares views of the Southern Ocean, Mount Greenly, Lake Greenly and the rolling countryside,” Tara says.
“The location’s beauty doesn’t end there, with the coastline at the end of our road boasting endless kilometres of pristine, untouched and wild beaches with not even a footprint on the beach for most of the year.”
The carriage is filled with warm, hand collected vintage interior furnishing with an expansive outdoor entertaining area and fits up to three adults, or two adults and two children.
Tara says the two bedroom an one bathroom space was created to ignite and inspire conversation and creativity.
“We wanted to create something that had a lot of warmth, which is why we chose the timber cladding for the interior and used natural materials like stone and terracotta.”
“My goal was to repurpose and buy second hand as much as possible, with a sprinkling of special new pieces from my favourite interiors stores. I wanted an eclectic mixture of ‘shacky’ finds alongside a hint of Mid Century design.”
I think my favourite element would be our sustainably sourced timber features being the interior cladding and the decking posts. The towering raw hardwood posts and the warmth of the cladding really took our breath away once it was complete.”
With not a neighbour in site aside from the cheeky wildlife, there’s endless opportunities to explore your surroundings. Guests can swim, fish, surf and explore the pristine coastline and hike Mount Greenly.
The Greenly room was created with the help of SATC with a $30,000 grant from the Tourism Industry Development Fund.
You can find out more about The Greenly Carriage through their website, and book through Airbnb