FARMSTAY ADVENTURES IN AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

If it’s an Aussie adventure holiday you’re after, pack the swag, slap on the Akubra hat and head for an Outback station.

Gain hands-on experience of agricultural life when you stay on a working sheep or cattle station in Outback Queensland. At Kroombit Lochenbar Station, south-west of Rockhampton in Central Queensland,the owners open up their 4000-hectare cattle property to guests who want to experience the traditional life of the Outback.

Introduce the kids to country life. There’s no time for computers and MP3 players at family-friendly Outback properties such as Paschendaele Farm or the Lillydale host farm in the Gold Coast hinterland, the perfect family holiday. Paschendaele, a 7500-acre working property running 1500 cattle, three and half hours north of Brisbane at Burnett, is perfect for the little ones and offers a range of activities tailored to children such as feeding chickens and collecting eggs, milking cows, feeding pigs, fishing and yabbying, spotlighting for wildlife, and feeding and playing with farmyard animals. Farm cottage and homestead facilities are available for families or couples.

Camp out under the stars in a swag at Mount Mulligan Station, two hours west of Cairns in Far North Queensland. Mount Mulligan station is a traditional working cattle station, featuring an authentic homestead that provides a warm rural retreat for city slickers who want an introduction to rural life. Enjoy horseriding, mustering, fossicking and prospecting.

Go bush in style at a luxury farmstay retreat. Visit the grand country estate of Burrawang West Station, including the quintessential Australian homestead situated on a 4000-hectare working cattle station in Outback NSW. Stay in refined luxury at Angorichina in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges or experience premium Outback luxury at El Questro, sprawled across 405,000 spectacular hectares in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Experience life on a working cattle property at Carisbrooke Station, near Winton in Outback Queensland. Carisbooke has its own landing strip and your hosts Charles and Penelope Phillott and family, invite you to experience this fascinating area with its dinosaur fossils. Fly in or arrive by 4WD to this or other Outback properties such as historic Alkoomie Station, an 18,000-hectare working cattle property near Cooktown, which is only accessible only via four-wheel drive.