Station manager Joe Atkins says I’m eating like his stockmen do, but I doubt any of them sit under boab trees lit up by string lights sipping premium wine out of glasses hand-made in Austria. Bullo River Station promises an immersive connection to the outback on a 162,000-hectare property in the remote East Kimberley, but when my six-seater charter plane lands on a grass airstrip out front, staff won’t let me carry even my backpack to my room. If only I knew 30 years ago this is what it’s like being a jackaroo in the Northern Territory, I might’ve learnt to ride a horse.
A three-hour drive will just get you to tthe station’s boundaries from Darwin or Kununurra. Credit: Elise Hassey I could’ve driven out here from Darwin (or Kununurra), but to understand the remoteness of this place, it’s worth noting it takes three hours of driving just to get to the boundary of the property. Bullo River Station is one of outback Australia’s most iconic outback homesteads, thanks to former owner, Sara Henderson, whose 1993 autobiography listing the trials of a widow running a remote cattle station with three small daughters made her a household name.
On arrival, I’m taken by ATV for a quick tour of the homestead and watch wallabies boxing on a green lawn, beside jackaroos – and jillaroos – rounding up cattle on horseback; all this just metres from a sanctuary of luxurious suites set around a swimming pool shaded by coconut trees. With all the creature comforts it’s tou.