What is Kindled?
Kindled is an Australian based company that makes tiny homes in picturesque Australian properties that have low environmental impact, and provide unique getaway experiences.
With the purpose of escaping the stress of high density city living, Kindled escapes allow guests to get back in touch with nature, and relax without the need for technology. Currently with only one tiny home located 3 hours away from the Sydney CBD in a rural location, Kindled aims to produce several tiny homes across Australia. Partnered with the Australian furniture company Koala, talented builders at Rydebuild, fridge provider Bushman, and classic beverage makes Young Henrys, Kindled provides all the comforts needed without excess, technological distractions, or footprint on the environment.
What’s in the Kindled tiny house?
Forget about checking your Instagram feed through wifi, or catching the latest show on TV because these tech pieces aren't going to be in any Kindled home. Instead this tiny home is full of only the necessities without the bells or whistles. The front door is locked and requires a 4 digit code that will be provided to you 3 days before your trip.
Once inside you have a double sized bed by the main window with an adjacent shelf full of assorted books, board games, and a speaker to play music. Thankfully above is also an air conditioner because Australia is effing hot, and summers are scorchers!
On the right is a small kitchen with a stove top, mini fridge, pots, pans, cooking utensils, and enough cutlery, and crockery for 4 people which is the maximum number of guests allowed. The pantry has some food so you can either pay extra for meats, vegetables, fruits, beers, wines, and ciders or you can bring your own. Beware: the nearest grocer is 20 minutes away in Bathurst which also requires you to drive on numerous dirt roads so pack food in advance of pay extra for the Kindled add ons.
Opposite of the kitchen is a small table with seating for 2 people, or 4 if you want to get a bit cuddly!
Through the wooden slider door is a lovely shower, sink with some soaps, and...wait for it, a compost toilet. Yes folks, the toilet doesn't flush. Instead your few days there will have the remains of your processed food lingering with soil, wood shavings, and toilet paper.
When you go back into the main part of the house, and go up the ladder you'll find a queen sized Koala mattress, one plush Koala pillow, one memory foam Koala pillow, and lovely Koala sheets which are made of 100% eucalyptus TENCEL lyocell. In my photos you can see the Koala sheets in midnight blue, and gum leaf (which is my favourite!). While the mattress upstairs (or should I say up the ladder?) is a Koala, the one downstairs is not so they do feel very different!!
How was our experience?
In complete honesty my husband, and I loved our 3 days away at the Kindled tiny home. It was exactly the short escape we needed to just relax away from the stresses of everyday life but it was a experience so different from our normal trips abroad, or fancy hotels.
Getting there took us 3 hours, and required us to drive on many dirt roads that our Mercedes C180 coupe didn't quite enjoy. But once we were there we were swept away by the views. The house overlooked fields of serenity where kangaroos were in abundance, wombats wandered around, eucalyptus corridors surrounded, cows grazed in the sunshine, and the nearby dam glistened. And when you were silent, the whole place just sounded so quiet yet full of life. There wasn't a sky scraper in sight. Instead birds, butterflies, and stars dominated the skies.
Once inside we turned on the aircon to cool down the place. It wasn't until that first night we learned the place relied on solar power as we ran out of electricity. Note to whoever stays there: conserve the electricity. From then on we have the air con on every 3 hours for 15 minutes at a time which was how long it took the whole house to cool down in the 30 degree Celsius weather.
As we got there at 4:30 instead of the 3pm checkin we played a board game until the sun lowered a bit more then started filming content. As our booking came with all the food add ons, we had T bone steaks with corn, and mashed potatoes for dinner which were all cooked on the stove. The home did come with a bbq but as it was 30 degrees we didn't want to stand outside for 20 minutes to cook everything.
That night we slept just as we were snuggling in our bed at home as the Kindled home came with a Koala mattress, Koala pillows, and Koala sheets!
Our second day we woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise as we sat on the picnic table outside, and stared as vibrant colours lit the sky, and woke up the beautiful Australian wildlife. We spent the day playing every single board game in the house, and going for hikes around the nearby lands. As mentioned in the Kindled booklet, we observed the wildlife only from afar but made sure to look out for possible snakes in the long grass.
After that scorcher of a day I was happy to take a cold shower. All the water in the Kindled tiny home comes from the adjacent rainwater tank that then gets filtered so it's safe to drink. The booklet recommended no longer than 10 minute shower each but we kept to 1-2 minutes just to be safe.
That night we played romantic music under the stars.
On our last day we cleaned the house, packed our bags, and went on one last early morning hike to see the kangaroos. On our way back we stopped by the local stores where we got fresh fruits from the nearby farms!
How does it feel to sleep on a Koala Mattress?
Definitely what made the stay at Kindled feel so homely was the Koala products that were there as it was the setup we have at our home minus of course our Koala Timber Bed Base.
Sitting on the Koala mattress does make it sink slightly but once you lay down it does provide even comfort. The bottom layer is very firm with 5 panel zoning so there are varying firmnesses throughout the mattress to provide support to the areas of your body that needs it most. But the top layer is so soft that we fall asleep so quickly every night!
Thankfully all the Koala products are designed for the Australian climate so we didn't feel overheated while we slept, and it was kinda nice to be sleeping in bedding made using eucalyptus fibres while being surrounded by eucalyptus trees.
Overall a 10/10 holiday getaway to witness the beauty of Australia, and 5 star rating for Australia's highest rated mattress brand. To get 10% off at Koala you can use my code BUNNY10 here! A big thank you to the team at Kindled for your hospitality, and to Koala for organising my stay.