Head East: a peek inside Thredbo’s most beautiful accommodation
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South of the border, east of the sun, lies Thredbo’s most beautiful accommodation.
Photographer Monique Easton’s personal history is inextricable with that of Thredbo.
Many Australians, especially Canberrans, credit Thredbo as a formative influence on their lives, but without the pull of the Snowy Mountains’ quiet slopes (and not-so-quiet village atmosphere), Monique might not be here today.
“My parents met in Thredbo at House of Ullr, when my mother was doing a gap year,” she explains.
“She was cleaning my dad’s room and had decided to help herself to a slice of his peanut butter toast in the kitchen. My dad came back to pick up something from the room and caught her, mid-bite.”
A few years later and Monique was herself traversing Thredbo’s pristine slopes—albeit in a carrier on her dad’s back, which she admits would not “pass OH&S nowadays. What can I say, it was the ‘80s!”
As her father worked with the Australian Paralympic Ski team, Monique continued to spend time in Thredbo. But it wasn’t until she had the opportunity to purchase a slice of the town’s tightly-held property market that she was able to make her own impression.
Purchasing two properties on opposite sides of Thredbo village, Monique set about creating her luxurious mountain hideaways. Rented as separate Airbnbs, the Cedar Cabin and Oak Apartment form The Eastern.
Each has its own distinct personality, but they took some time to reveal.
With both spaces purchased in their original condition from the ‘90s, and construction only able to take place in summer, all renovations had to be efficient and modular.
However, while Monique sought to keep the properties’ Snowy Mountains soul intact and pay homage to the unique Thredbo atmosphere, she was also influenced by some of the world’s chicest alpine locations.
“The Cedar Cabin is both raw and refined with vaulted ceilings, exposed timbers and blackened steel. I mixed Scandinavian handheld carry lamps with Australian bush rimmed crockery and chose objects like a growler and a camp chair by US outdoors company Filson to decorate the space.”
“I wanted the cabin to feel like an extremely luxurious camping experience. The whole process of climbing up the ladder to get to the loft area feels very European and removed from day-to-day life.”
“The ceiling is clad in textural, rough-sawn timber and when lying in bed the ceiling slopes down in front of you, almost like a tent. It’s very cosy.”
Monique Easton.
Positioned next to the Thredbo River, Monique says guests love listening to the sound of the water as they go to sleep. In summer, the river creates a natural swimming hole and, in winter, the cabin’s glazed Onsen-style two-person bath is “always popular with guests after a day on the mountain”.
While you may be forgiven for thinking you’re in Colorado’s Sun Valley—or perhaps the Swiss Alps—in the Cedar Cabin, The Eastern’s two-person Oak Apartment was influenced by minimalist Scandinavian spaces and Monique’s own travel memories.
“Prior to renovating the Oak Apartment, I had been married in a minimalist farmhouse in Italy,” says Monique. “It was an old farmhouse in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere and I fell in love with the simplicity of the architecture.”
“The house had been abandoned many years ago and was picked up by the new owners as a ruin, they commissioned Swiss architects Markus Wespi and Jérôme de Meuron to transform the inside into a minimalist haven, with neutral colours and flooded in light. The property is so stylish and humble and doesn’t compete with the view.”
When it came to fitting out the Oak Apartment, Monique “took cues from the surrounding environment, keeping the colour palette muted and incorporating natural materials like wood, stone, leather and brass.”
“The space is very Nordic minimalist; the design emphasises the clean lines and makes the view a focal point for the apartment. I was very careful to leave the materials in their most natural state—think whitewashed timbers and ebonised tones with a hard-wax finish.”
“In the Oak Apartment the kitchen is my favourite space. The ebonised timber in a sideboard style looks more like a piece of furniture than a kitchen. A Normann Copenhagen Amp Lamp sits in the corner and the space has a large picture window of Mt Kosciuszko.”
Monique explains that in a location where space is at a premium, accommodation quickly tends to be about bodies in beds, not atmosphere.
“There’s a common theme in the village of squeezing in as many beds as possible, with no goal other than maximum capacity. This was something I wanted to avoid.”
While Monique is well acquainted with Thredbo’s popularity, she says the Snowy Mountains can still represent an experiential hideaway, and this lies at the heart of The Eastern’s appeal.
“Part of visiting the mountains is all about getting out of the city, switching off and connecting with the landscape,” she explains.
“I strategically chose locations on the edge of the village so guests could wake to an uninterrupted view of Mount Kosciuszko, get the feeling of being remote, while still being able to enjoy the local facilities.”
“I think climbing up the ladder of the Cedar Cabin and sleeping amongst the woodgrain of the ceiling adds to creating an experience that is removed from everyday life. I feel like modern travellers expect an experience, not just a place to sleep.”
Photography: Monique Easton
This article originally appeared in Magazine: Black + White for Spring 2019, available for free while stocks last. Find out more about Magazine here.
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