Wallaroo

I recently had to go to Canberra for business and left it a little late to book accommodation, forgetting that with Parliament in session and the Golf Masters accommodation was really at a premium and I battled to find a place to stay for under $600 which would probably not have looked good on my business Amex expenses I reckon. Even the B&B's were full. Eventually I found one that had a spot. After I indicated that I wanted to book, the owner manager paused and said: 'You do know that these rooms are in railway carriages...?'
It was my turn to pause. Memories came flooding back of Knysna on the Garden Route of the Western Cape in South Africa where there is a place called The Caboose and where the whole motel / hotel is setup like railway compartments - impossibly small and where you stand on the toilet to shower.. I had little choice here and he assured me that you had a whole carriage to yourself so I accepted.

The actual place is called Last Stop Ambledown Brook which is in keeping with the railway theme and is set among wine farms overlooking a truly spectacular view of the surrounding vineyards: http://www.laststop.com.au
The restored carriages were moved there, the owner told me using 60 ton cranes and then restored by him and his wife. My carriage was decorated in the theme of old movies and there are pictures and posters from old movies all over the carriage. It was immaculately clean and neat but a little unnerving. The first picture below is of the entrance to the carriage - a mannequin fully dressed like a fifties movies star welcomes you and then the bedroom is to the right and the rest of the lounge, dining room and kitchen to the left.
The bedroom really freaked me out. It was decorated like a star's dressing room with a fully set dressing table and everything was pink and frilly. Not pastel pink, you understand, but screaming pink. The bed reached almost to my chest and I climbed up and into it with a little difficulty, the sheets a darker brighter pink than the walls of that was possible.

The next morning, when I got up and walked through to the kitchen, the mannequin's high heeled shoe had fallen off - and I couldn't remember if had been on or off when I arrived. I bent down to pick it up and then thought better of it, thinking that I would rather ask the owners if the shoe was off or on. I ultimately decided against that as the whole thing was just too weird for me: what if they though I was kinky and had interfered with their mannequin? So I just left it off. When I looked at the photos I took when I first arrived the shoe had been on! O well whatever, I would never return to this place.

That morning as I packed up, about 20 to 30 Kangaroos with their joeys (baby kangaroos) on the hill nearby overlooking me, watched intently, their heads moving back and forth as though they were watching a tennis match, as I and walked back and forth from the carriage to the car, a few of the joeys running around in between them like kids bored at a show.

If you are looking for a different experience and a relaxing spot, a great place to stay and the couple who owns it is really lovely and very welcoming.