A Luxe Country Stay At Bullo River Station

A recent addition to Luxury Lodges of Australia, Bullo River Station offers a window into life on a working NT cattle station, where outback hospitality meets untold adventure.

All is calm at Bullo River Station as I sip my sundowner while gazing out across the homestead’s well-tended lawn. Brahman cows graze in a paddock beyond. On the horizon, the contours of a craggy range place this otherwise pastoral scene squarely within the rugged outback. The sky unrolls before me like a sheet of blotting paper suffused with orange, pink, purple and blue.

As if out of nowhere in the evening stillness, a chopper roars into frame. It lands just over the fence and, blades whirring to a stop, unloads two of our fellow guests.

Hair still drying from a wild swim at a waterfall and fresh from a spectacular sunset, they are breathless and exhilarated and apologise for disrupting the peace of our pre-dinner cocktail hour. But I know the feeling.

Just this morning, my partner and I had swooped back into the same spot ourselves, windswept and giddy from a helicopter adventure with pilot Harry Shaw. We’d taken off from the station in the early twilight and within minutes were soaring above a wilderness of broken sandstone.

an aerial view of the Bullo — The sun rises over the magnificent landscape. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

“We’re just going to come in and land on one of these pinnacles over here," Harry had said with the casualness of someone laying out a picnic rug, before executing it with the same level of ease. We hopped out of the chopper in time to watch the sun come up over the magnificent landscape just 200 kilometres south of the Timor Sea.

A location unlike any other

an aerial view of Bullo River Station — The homestead sits on a 160,000-hectare property.

Bullo River Station is a working cattle station set on more than 160,000 hectares of privately owned countryside at the confluence of the Bullo and Victoria rivers.

A journey here defines the concept of ‘luxury of experience’ but defies just about everything else – from convention to geography. Technically in the Northern Territory, locally considered part of the Kimberley and traditionally Miriwoong and Gajirrawoong Country, it occupies its own unique time, space and place.

Seeing it from above – as we did this morning and on our air transfer from Kununurra two days ago – gives the best perspective of an epic landscape carved and braided by gorges and waterfalls.

Here, saltwater crocodiles swim in snaking rivers, rugged hills conceal extraordinary rock art and vast grass plains are sprinkled with boab trees. The meeting of saltwater and freshwater creates a diversity of ecosystems harbouring everything from the omnipresent crocs to wild buffaloes, wallabies, dingoes and a cacophony of native and migratory birds.

an aerial view of the Bullo and Victoria rivers — The property sits at the confluence of two rivers.

Luxury Lodges of Australia’s new offering

Bullo River Station is one of the most recent additions to the Luxury Lodges of Australia portfolio. And its homestead – kitted out with 12 guestrooms by interior designer Sibella Court with a palette drawn from the landscape – welcomes guests who have a sense of adventure and appetite to observe the workings of a remote outback property of such vast proportions.

the Sibella Court-designed guestroom at Bullo River Station — The Sibella Court-designed guestrooms feature earthy textures. (Image: Elise Hassey)

They might have heard of a chapter of Bullo River Station’s earlier history: Sara Jane Henderson became a household name after she published her autobiography, From Strength to Strength, in 1993, which documented how she successfully rebuilt the indebted station following her husband’s death. It was Sara’s daughter, Marlee Ranacher, and her husband, Franz, who opened it up to tourism in 2001.

Current owners Alexandra Burt, proprietor of Voyager Estate in the Margaret River wine region, and husband Julian, bought the property in 2017 and have set it on a path towards transformation again.

wallabies grazing in the fields at Bullo River Station — Native wildlife abounds in the paddocks. (Image: Elise Hassey)

Their groundbreaking new approach to land management has already seen cattle numbers reduced to assist with the rehabilitation of land and some grazing areas returned to native bush to increase wildlife populations. A collaboration with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy sees projects conducted onsite such as scientific biodiversity monitoring, research, weed control, planned burning and feral herbivore management.

the cattle station at Bullo — Bullo is a working cattle station.

The vision is one where pastoral activities and conservation can thrive side by side, combined with a low-impact tourism experience that will be enhanced further still when a sensitive redevelopment of its homestead and guest wing, again under the design direction of Sibella Court, is completed in time for the 2027 season.

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A station full of adventures

Learn about the life of a ringer at Bullo River Station. (Image: Shot By Thom)

Each day at Bullo is seamlessly tailored as a series of adventures, buffered by enough moments of pause – a meditative moment, coffee and fresh-baked cookie in hand, or an hour in repose by the palm-fringed pool – to let the red dust we’ve kicked up settle and the experiences sink in.

A station tour offers a window into life on the land, from the cattle yards cleverly designed by station managers Joe and Catherine Atkins to help manage a 2000-strong Brahman-cross herd to the best-practice methods employed to ensure Bullo River Station is as self-sustainable as possible.

A meatworks is planned to help achieve this goal and complement a pioneering program of breeding Wagyu bulls with Brahman cows for a quality beef to serve the domestic market.

Huge sheds are given over to solar batteries that produce 80 per cent of the station’s electricity requirements, and an ever-growing kitchen garden roaming with chooks is abundant with rocket, radishes, spinach, sweetcorn, pumpkins, beetroots and more. All of which will end up on the plates of guests, lodge staff and ringers alike.

Dine on a barbecue lunch after a dip at Marlee’s Bath.

A morning stroll while the mist is low takes us to a billabong where whistling ducks, magpie geese and brolgas convene. During one 4WD jaunt on the property, a stop at Marlee’s Bath, the site of one of Marlee Ranacher’s stock camps, is a chance to cool off in a jewel-like waterhole followed by a barbecue lunch cooked on a cast-iron fire.

the Aboriginal rock art at Bullo River Station — Its hills conceal Aboriginal rock art.

In another moment, a scramble takes us up to hidden rock-art galleries bursting with vivid life that are still being interpreted by the land’s original caretakers, the Miriwoong and Gajirrawoong people.

One evening we make our way through bush blooming with flame-red miniata to the edge of an escarpment for a sunset that fills the range of our vision. We toast to the moment with a glass of Voyager Estate 2022 sparkling chenin blanc.

Our experiences are led by spirited guides who share their knowledge of the property with an infectious passion and appropriately wide-eyed awe.

the Bullo River Gorge — Cruise the Bullo River, where the Kimberley meets the Top End.

In six months from now, when Bullo has closed to guests for the season, Elizabeth Shoepe will be back home in the snowy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. But for now, she is steering us along the Bullo River in a small electric motorboat, eyes trained for red-winged parrots and rainbow bee-eaters. And she seems in her element.

The river is flanked by freshwater mangroves, paperbarks and pandanus in a shock of lush green redolent of the Top End. And towering over us, those red cliffs that are so very Kimberley; Bullo River Station is a unique location where the two places meet, Elizabeth posits.

Light reflected off the water casts a mirrorball effect on the rock as we round a bend. “I call this Turtle Cove," she says. “A handful of freshwater turtles live here."

Elizabeth dreams of working in remote lodges all around the world and was drawn here because: “I wanted outback. I wanted small and intimate. I wanted a place with a lot of heart." And she got that in spades.

The Bullo philosophy

Chef David Rayner preparing for dinner — Chef David Rayner cooks up a stockman’s dinner.

Chef David Rayner nearly took a job in Antarctica – but landed at Bullo River Station instead. Here, the British-born chef, who helped pioneer Australia’s local produce movement with Noosa’s River House two decades ago, and later with Thomas Corner Eatery, has also been in his element.

The Bullo philosophy is all about working with what is available, not least produce growing in the kitchen garden like the rosella we tasted last night, swirled into ice cream made velvety by the addition of freshly laid eggs. “This is how food should be," David says. “Hours old; it’s wonderful."

fruits hanging from the boab tree in Bullo — The fruit of the boab tree glows in the morning light.

Mangoes drip from the trees in December when the property is closed to guests and will be stored in Cryovac so there is a full supply for the year. Excess tomatoes, eggplants and papayas are made into pickles, chutneys, relishes and jams. Bullo beef is undoubtedly the star of the show.

dinner under the canopy of a majestic boab in Bullo — Share an evening meal under the canopy of a majestic boab. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

One memorable evening, we gather in the glow of golden hour under the canopy of a majestic silvery boab. As the sun slips away, we settle in for a stockman’s dinner with fellow guests alongside Catherine and Joe, who share stories of modern station life.

There’s damper to start, torn at the table. The slow-braised Bullo beef is served with fire-roasted snake beans fresh from the garden and buttery Paris mash in an authentic if elevated tribute to the stockmen of old.

a stockman-style damper in Bullo River Station — A stockman-style damper.

While each travelling party spends the day with their own private tour guide, evenings at Bullo River Station are communal affairs. Cocktails as the kookaburras and corellas trill their dusk chorus. A fresh and hearty meal served with outback hospitality and Margaret River wines.

A nightcap at the fire pit and maybe a spot of stargazing if conditions are right. Evenings are our crossroads of adventure – where we all come together bursting with stories. Like the one about a sunset swim at a waterfall you can only reach by helicopter. If these excursions into the landscape reflect the soul of Bullo River Station, then breaking bread afterwards lies at its heart.

Imogen Eveson sitting atop a rock in Bullo at sunrise — The writer soaks in a spectacular Bullo sunrise. (Image: Scott McGill)

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A traveller’s checklist

Getting there

Air transfers provide the best access to Bullo River Station and the chance to see the property from above. A private charter plane to its homestead airstrip takes 90 minutes from Darwin/Garramilla or 30 minutes from Kununurra. Air transfers are also available to/from a number of other locations including El Questro or Bamurru Plains.

Helicopter transfers from Darwin (120 minutes) or Kununurra (40 minutes) can also be arranged. If self-driving through the region, the station can also be accessed by 4WD from the Victoria Highway (road access is not guaranteed at certain times of the year). Allow three to four hours from Kununurra (200 kilometres), seven to eight from Katherine (460 kilometres) and nine to 10 from Darwin (800 kilometres). 4WD hire vehicles can be arranged through Budget or Thrifty at Kununurra Airport.

a Helicopter transfer to Bullo River Station — A scenic helicopter ride rewards with views of the property from above. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

Staying there

Bullo River Station is a Luxury Lodge of Australia. Its 2025 season all-inclusive rates are $1250 per adult or $900 per child (3-16) per night in April (the end of the wet season), and $1450 per adult or $900 per child (3-16) per night from May to September (dry season), inclusive of accommodation in king bedrooms, all meals, refreshments and beverages (including wine, beer and spirits).

Daily activities with a dedicated guide are also included, such as observing cattle station and mustering activities (subject to seasonality), fishing, tours of rock art, gorges and waterholes, 4WD activities on the property, stargazing, and a six-minute helicopter scenic flight per adult.

the Bullo River Station signage — It welcomes guests to experience outback hospitality. (Image: Elise Hassey)

Redevelopment plans

Bullo River Station will close to guests for the 2026 season while it undergoes a redevelopment of its homestead and guest wing. The sensitive renovation is steered by Perth/Boorloo-based architecture firm MJA Studio, which will work closely with Sibella Court (interior designer behind the homestead’s existing guest wing) and will include more generous guestrooms and a new two-bedroom family suite.

All will be underpinned by Bullo’s energy-efficient ethos, requiring less cooling and increasing the property’s water-capture and solar-power-generation abilities.

rainbow bee-eaters painting at the guest wing of Bullo River Station — The guest wing of this Luxury Lodge of Australia is styled by interior designer Sibella Court in tribute to the station’s rainbow bee-eaters. (Image: Elise Hassey)

Hard to reach and harder to forget, East Arnhem offers something rare in modern travel: the chance to slow down and experience Country on its own terms.

The sky feels bigger in East Arnhem. It stretches wide and uninterrupted above rouged earth, stringybark woodland and beaches so empty they seem to belong to another era. The coastline curves for kilometres without a footprint and the horizon runs on forever.

For comedian Lou Wall, the scale of the place was the first thing that hit them.

“The sheer openness,” they say. “The sky feels infinite and the land stretches out endlessly. It’s pretty breathtaking visually.”

But the physical landscape is only part of the story. The real reward isn’t only the scenery but the shift in perspective the journey brings. Visitors stop trying to tick off the destination and a real engagement takes over.

“It made me never want to travel again,” Wall jokes. “In that I never wanted to leave East Arnhem.”

Getting there

Aerial shot of East Arnhem’s coastline as cars trace the curve of the shore. — Sail along the remote coastline on an expedition cruise.

Reaching East Arnhem is part of the adventure. Travellers typically fly into Gove Airport near Nhulunbuy via Darwin or Cairns, or arrive by expedition cruise along the remote coastline. Others make the journey overland along rutted dirt roads that cut through East Arnhem’s small pockets of monsoon forest.

However you arrive, there’s a distinct feeling of crossing into somewhere different. Permits are required to visit the region, reflecting the fact that this is Yolŋu land where communities and traditional owners maintain deep cultural connections to Country.

The extra planning becomes part of the experience. By the time visitors arrive, they understand they’re entering a place not just of respect, but also patience and curiosity.

At one with nature

East Arnhem’s landscapes leave a strong imprint. For Wall, one place in particular still lingers in their memory: Ngalarrkpuy, also known as Lonely Beach, near Bawaka Homeland.

“I genuinely felt like I was living inside an Instagram filter,” they say. “One of the most stunning feats of nature I’ve ever seen. The water was so clear I swear I could see even the fish smiling.”

Across the region, natural experiences unfold at a slower pace. Fishing, beachcombing and island hopping reveal the rhythm of the coastline. The tides shape daily life and the vastness of the landscape makes even simple moments feel downright cinematic.

For visitors with limited time, Wall says the Bawaka Homeland experience is unmissable.

“I just left and I’m already planning when I can get back there.”

The sense of remoteness is part of the appeal. In a country where many beaches are crowded and well-trodden, East Arnhem’s coastline still feels wonderfully wild.

Immersing in local culture

A visitor spends a meaningful moment alongside Yolŋu guides, gaining insight into their deep cultural knowledge and connection to the land. — Experience authentic moments with the locals.

Culture is woven through every experience in East Arnhem. Visitors have the opportunity to spend time on Country with Yolŋu guides and knowledge holders who share stories and traditions that have been passed down for generations.

For Wall, one of the most powerful moments came during a conversation with a Yolŋu elder.

“I got to meet a traditional elder, Mayalil, in Nhulunbuy,” they say. “Listening to her talk about her home made the land feel alive in ways I couldn’t have imagined.”

The region is also home to internationally recognised Aboriginal art centres where artists shape works deeply connected to land and family knowledge.

Music carries the same cultural energy. East Arnhem has produced globally recognised artists such as King Stingray and Baker Boy, blending Yolŋu language, storytelling and contemporary sound.

Wall experienced this musical spirit first-hand.

“A jam session around the fire was it for me,” they say. “Letting the deep joy and history of their music wash over me… and meeting a few of the King Stingray musicians was unreal.”

These moments of human connection often become the most memorable part of a visit.

Spotting local wildlife

An aerial view of the beach shows tiny figures lined up across the white sand, moving as if in a rhythmic dance. — Step into a world where nature reigns.

The wildlife of East Arnhem adds another layer to the experience. The region is home to an extraordinary range of animals, from waterbirds and turtles to dugongs, dolphins and the formidable saltwater crocodile.

Wall admits they didn’t actually spot a croc during their visit.

“Devastatingly, I didn’t see one,” they laugh. “But with all the stories from the locals I definitely gained a healthy respect for caution.”

Some of the most memorable wildlife encounters can be surprisingly small., At Banubanu Beach Retreat on Bremer Island, Wall remembers walking along the beach one morning and watching it come alive.

“As you walk through the sand you see hundreds of crabs scurrying into their holes as you pass by,” they say. “Such a small thing, but it was completely magical.”

Moments like this reveal the quieter rhythms of East Arnhem, where even the smallest creatures seem to play a part in the landscape.

Visitors who make the journey soon learn the most important travel tip of all.

“Go in open-minded with a sense of curiosity,” Wall says. “Be prepared to ditch your plans. The land and the locals will guide you on an adventure no spreadsheets could ever compete with.”

And most importantly, they add, don’t rush.

“The land and people deserve your time and attention. You’ll be all the better for slowing down.”

For more information on visiting East Arnhem, head to eastarnhem.com.au.

Getting to the heart of an outback stay at Bullo River Station

A recent addition to Luxury Lodges of Australia, Bullo River Station offers a window into life on a working NT cattle station, where outback hospitality meets untold adventure.

A location unlike any other

Luxury Lodges of Australia’s new offering

A station full of adventures

The Bullo philosophy