It’s been a challenging few years for many of the big stations in rural Australia … and an increasing number are earning extra income by allowing grey nomads and other travellers to camp.
In Western Australia’s Gascoyne region, for example, the ban on live exports, floods, fires and most recently drought, has taken a heavy toll on station life. According to a report on the ABC’s Country Hour, pastoralists in the area historically ran sheep, but in recent years they have diversified into cattle, and harvesting feral goats. Now, it seems, tourism could be at least a partial solution to the problem.
The Wooramel Station, 120 kilometres south of Carnarvon, recently joined a long list of stations in the Gascoyne taking advantage of their location on the Coral Coast to offer travellers a different kind of accommodation option.
The homestead is surrounded by freehold land and it’s there that the Steadman family will eventually establish 100 campsites along the banks of the Wooramel River. In the last few weeks, they’ve opened the first of those sites to guests.
Rachael Steadman told the ABC that it had been hard work, but she and her husband Justin, saw it as a good way to secure their station’s future.
“With the instability of the livestock market, after the ban on live exports, we were looking to diversify our cash flow,” she said. “We’ve got a beautiful river system, not far from the homestead here and we also have artesian springs, so we thought tourism could be a good opportunity for us.”
Rather than just having visitors camp and leave, Rachael told the ABC says it is also an opportunity for the family to give people an insight into station life and the history of the region.
“We wanted to get ready for this tourist season, but we’d work for a few days on the campsites and then we’d have to drop tools to muster some sheep, or goats to get on a boat or a truck,” she said. “I think though, if we fill the park up a bit and we get to speak the guests and they love the spot then it’ll have been worth it, we’ll be very pleased.”
Would love to do just that….get into the real Australia.
We love camping at Outback stations. None of the negatives of a Caravan Park – camp almost anywhere, campfire at night, beautiful views, peaceful and a lot cheaper.
We would camp at a station or farm any time, but some are charging more than caravan parks with little or no facilities. This is the only drawback with some.
We have stayed at a couple of station stays. Agree that generally a nicer atmosphere than a lot of the CP’s but as dee said some of them get a little carried away with charges. The last one was run by a lovely coupe and provided what I would term “rustic” ablution facilities. Not that we had a problem with that, but that was it. No power or water except for showers not potable. We were allowed to run our genny between 9 am and 11 am and then again from 4 pm until 7 pm which allowed us to re charge our batteries. They were charging $4 per night less than a CP not far away charged for a powered sight with all the potable water we could use.
went past a few days ago,, wished I knew about this, would love to see the station life… maybe next yr….
Great idea. Will keep this in mind when I get on the road next year
Have stayed at one about 3years ago on the west coast, as long as they don’t charge to much.
its great camping at Outback stations. None of the negatives.camp almost anywhere, campfire at night, views, peaceful and a lot fun.
The way of thinking of the caravan parks north of Geraldton is to steal as much as possible from the tourist and progressively provide less in return. If the stations follow the same line they too will be treated with contempt.
We have stayed at many outback stations. Very relaxing, almost no restrictions, lovely people, but some are out pricing themselves a little. However still better than a c/p.
Is there a list of stations offering camp sites?
We have stayed at Bullara Station Stay several times, before and after we have been in to Cape Range National Park or in preference to staying at the expensive caravan parks in Exmouth. It is just 85ks from Exmouth and is a most enjoyable place to stay, Tim, Edwina and the girls together with the camp hosts are all friendly, helpful people. Sitting around the camp fire at night is a great way to meet other travellers.
We have stayed at a few on way up , and have found value for money at most but some have been a ripoff and sadly lacking in amenities