On a far-flung 600,000ha working cattle station in northern Queensland, Chris Pritchard experiences real outback ruggedness without surrendering comforT
The station hands’ excitement is palpable. This time, they promise, Mister Muster won’t escape. They are proven right. With helicopters and horses, they drive the cunning old bull to a pen. Defiantly, it ambles for the final 100m.
The crew doesn’t hurry it. Like me, they respect it.
Mister Muster earned its nickname because, for three years, it cunningly “missed a muster” – revealing itself teasingly before hiding in thick bush to evade annual musters. Now it’s the end of the line. The bull is doomed to be hamburger.
Doleful Mister Muster eyes me from its pen. I encounter it when visiting Wrotham Park Lodge, an opulent outback hideaway 300km west of Cairns, a northern Queensland coastal resort city. The luxurious lodge, on a far-flung 600,000ha working cattle station, accommodates up to 20 guests (no under-12s).
Accommodation, in 10 well-spaced five-star cabins, overlooks the Mitchell River. Between cabins and river is a narrow strip of ochre-hued, spiky moonscape–eerie-looking erosion, a consequence of rainy-season water’s wild rush. (Wrotham Park Lodge, part of the Down Under chain Voyages, closes annually from November 1 to March 31, during a wet contrast to the rest of the year’s aridity.) From cabin verandas, freshwater crocodiles are spotted basking on river banks. No saltwater crocs (so named because they venture out to sea), a larger and more dangerous variety, are recorded in these parts but staff report uncorroborated sightings.
Fellow guests include four birdwatchers attracted by abundant avian varieties. I watch eagles circling overhead. They swoop with unfailing accuracy on hapless snakes or other prey far below. Cockatoos, brolgas, wild geese and other birds combine in enjoyable cacophony.
Heading along the river by helicopter, I see freshwater crocs swimming while feral pigs and dingoes drink at the edge of billabongs. Cattle munch contentedly.
Wallabies bound across a tree-dotted landscape, nervously fleeing as our 4WD approaches. It is taking me along dirt roads to watch cattle-mustering operations (guests can participate voluntarily, on horseback or aboard choppers).
After my second day’s breakfast, I farewell honeymooners setting off to explore this slab of outback on horseback. A British couple opts instead for quad-bike riding. I grab a mountain bike to investigate a rutted trail.
Next morning, I hike deep into the countryside. The experience, though enjoyable, produces sore muscles. So, after a good night’s sleep, I choose an easy self-guided walk.
This ends at the main building in time for lunch, after which chef Peter Hurley conducts a hands-on cooking demonstration on the deck, enhancing fish from the Mitchell River with outback herbs.
General manager Cameron Harms persuades me to join guests fishing at a tree-shaded location. After only a couple of minutes, they’re reeling ’em in.
An hour before sunset, I tag along on a guided walk rich in flora and fauna descriptions. We stroll along a narrow strip of green pasture where cattle graze, wedged between the river and classically Aussie red cliffs.
Our destination: a hilltop lookout for sunset drinks. Guests’ cameras aim at a fiery orange ball which slips quickly behind distant hills.
About 50 percent of visitors fly to Wrotham Park Lodge’s grassy strip on scenic flights from the coast, Harms says. “The rest drive, usually stopping for a pub lunch at a country town called Chillagoe, two hours’ drive from the lodge.”
Resembling a sprawling farmhouse, the main building anchors the resort. It is crammed with aboriginal art and country-style bric-a-brac. Stylish furnishings supply a backdrop for fine-dining modern-Australian meals prepared by Hurley’s team.
A few steps from the dining room is a comfortable lounge area with bar, books and board games.
“Many guests are well travelled,” Harms confides. “But they associate Australian holidays, particularly in this part of Queensland, with the coast. That this place exists proves a huge surprise.”
HOW TO GET THERE
Fly to Cairns, reached directly from Southeast Asia as well as via Brisbane or Darwin. From Cairns, take a rental car for a half-day drive to Wrotham Park Lodge (tel 61 2 8296 8010, www.voyages.com.au) or, when booking, arrange a shared air-charter flight.
