Stella the Stargazer mobile tiny house Victoria
Going off-grid has never looked more appealing with this cosy, nature-focused escape.
There are moments during my all-too-brief liaison with Stella the Stargazer where I think I could sell my house, burn my possessions and bunker down in this shantytown dream-shack forever. Such as sunrise, when I raise my head from under a mountain of quilts to see an ocean of orange spreading over the Newry Flats. The mobile, off-grid tiny house is parked up among the vines at Blue Gables Vineyard, in the shire of Maffra, a dairying district in Gippsland 220km east of Melbourne. Sunlight caresses the leaves and it feels like I’m floating in a lime-coloured sea. In this moment I have everything I need. Well, almost everything.
I reluctantly climb out of my nest. Among the myriad provisions on the bench is an old coffee grinder (begone the infernal pod machine), into which I pour fresh beans and get to work on the crankshaft. A heavenly aroma fills the room. Transforming the fine dust into a life-infusing hot drink is also done by hand, using an espresso maker with manually operated levers. It requires teeth-gritting exertion to force the hot water through the grind, and with trembling triceps I climb back into bed to resume my love affair with life.
The moment epitomises my fling with the ephemeral Stella, who has been stealing hearts over recent weeks in different locations across regional Victoria. Life is distilled to its simplest pleasures, stripped of all unnecessary distractions. That includes space. Built by design company Ample from the salvaged timber and steel of an old woolshed, Stella appears equal parts gypsy caravan, grandad’s shed, and trash ’n’ treasure market. Victorian history buffs might even detect a nod to the so-called “Dudley Mansions” – ad hoc slum dwellings built around the time of the Great Depression from scrounged materials. This, though, is calculated dishevelment, her cobbled-together appearance belying the artfully precise workmanship that affords guests so many creature comforts.
Stella is not too tiny for an ensuite with flushing toilet and hot shower, with stylish glass louvres and a linen shower curtain. A 3KW solar battery system provides power, and there’s a woodfire stove to supplement the modern gas cooktop. The most eye-catching design element is undoubtedly the retractable bed, which cantilevers out so you can sleep under the stars should you wish. I do wish, but weather’s wishes win out, so I settle for my cosy, indoors cocoon, which still has a full-length view to the outside world through the glass wall.
The decor adheres to that instantly recognisable junk-shop aesthetic: the rusted, kerosene lantern perhaps salvaged from a coalmine; the parchment paper journal for chronicling your journey to Mordor; a clock possibly once belonging to Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit; along with a stern note warning of the folly of thieving the knick-knacks. Succulents grow from fossilised hiking boots on the deck, alongside antique steamer trunks and handmade outdoor chairs fashioned from “rescued fallen trees”. In the kitchen are candles I don’t dare light (“you are liable for any associated costs from events such as fire brigade call-outs triggered by your actions”) and vintage egg beaters – possibly rescued from a 1950s show home – that I most certainly give a whirl, scrambling up my free-range eggs for breakfast, and setting the stove a-sizzle with thick-cut bacon.
A welcome pack of local canapes (cheddar and brie from Maffra Cheese, shoulder ham from Eaglehawk Creek, honeyed nuts from Windsong Farm) plus breakfast is provided. For an extra charge you can have a gourmet dinner waiting in your fridge – in my case a Cherry Tree Organics roast lamb shoulder – with some assembly required. Chef Alejandro Saravia from Melbourne’s Farmer’s Daughter restaurant is the brains behind the mains, which come in vacuum-sealed packages of the kind they dole out to astronauts on the International Space Station.
Frustratingly, the bags aren’t labelled, so I don’t know what contains the burnt Tambo Valley honey and what contains the stracciatella, even if I knew what stracciatella was. I successfully identify a piece of roast pumpkin and fry that up for dinner. It’s delicious. The unopened bags I take home for further forensic examination. A bottle of Blue Gables sangiovese serves me well for a sunset dinner on the deck as magpies fly sorties among the vines.
The Stella experience goes beyond being holed up in a tiny home. An initiative of Visit Victoria, the idea is to spread the love around burgeoning regional areas, strategically chosen for their bounty of quality local producers. I drive east to Lightfoot Wines, near Bairnsdale, for a tasting at its cellar door overlooking a striking limestone bluff above the Mitchell River. The rich, terra rossa soils nurture its acclaimed Myrtle Point vineyard, known for fine pinot noir and chardonnay. Becoming popular too is its cool-climate shiraz, which is light and earthy – a shiraz, perhaps, for people who love pinot noir.
It’s not often I feel underdressed walking into a country pub for lunch, but the cultured sophistication of the award-winning Tinamba Hotel takes me by surprise. It’s quite the dichotomy, looking out at utes with trays full of kelpies pulling up in front of an irrigation equipment shop, then having a linen napkin spread across my lap and a plate of wild venison ragu and beetroot fazzoletti appear, followed by beef cheek in XO jus, potato galette and local fungi.
Back at Blue Gables, I share one final embrace with Stella, extracting a second coffee and sliding the bed outside, kissed by the summer sun. It’s sad to say goodbye, but I have to accept she’s just not the type to settle down. Our dalliance has been fun, but she needs to be in the arms of others. I hope they treat her well.
In the know
Stella the Stargazer is at Bay of Islands Farm near Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road until April 6, and in the Grampians Ranges from April 17 to June 18 (exact location TBA). Monday to Thursday $330 a night; Friday to Sunday $390 a night.
Ricky French was a guest of Visit Victoria.