Bullo River Station, NORTHERN TERRITORY
Airing Date: Oct 7th, 2002
Bullo River Station has been home to Sara Henderson and her family for more than 40 years and most of those years have been full of hard work and tears.
When Saras husband passed away in the mid 1980s Bullo was drowning in a sea of debt and the future looked grim. But somehow the family stuck together in a bid to save the station and eventually overcame the odds.
Marlee ran the station and worked in the yards day to day for years, and last year she bought the station. Bullo is still a fully operational cattle station and each year in dry season, March to November, visitors are invited to Bullo to experience life on a true blue Aussie station. There are 12 separate rooms at Bullo and the main house is perfect for dining and relaxing.
There are at least 10 musters throughout the year before one final big round up in spring, before the rainy season. There are over 8 000 cattle on the station, so it is all hands on deck during mustering.
Life at Bullo is very much a family affair. Marlees husband Franz takes care of both the mustering and the visitors. Activities such as bull catching, fishing, crocodile spotting and station tours of Bullo are included in the price of your stay but for the ultimate viewing Franz recommends taking to the sky.
For $830 an hour Franz takes a group of three over Bullo River Station and shows just how big it really is. Spanning across a massive 200,000 hectares or half a million acres Bullo could actually fit half of Sydney on to it. While that may sound big, some of the neighbouring properties are a whopping three million acres.
There is also a beautiful waterhole at Bullo and while it has stood there for more than 40 years there are still plenty of secret places to explore. With warm waters and no crocodiles the waterhole is the perfect escape from the spring heat. The waters at Bullo are also good for fishing and Franz is more than happy to show beginners the tricks to the trade. The best time to go fishing at the waterhole is after the wet season in March. At this time the fresh water still runs into the salt water and you are almost guaranteed of catching a Barramundi.
Dinner time at Bullo has a family feel as everybody sits down together to eat a home cooked meal. A meal of organic river station beef is sure to go down a treat after a day of hard yakka.
The facts:
Hardy Aviation run charter flights from Darwin to Bullo. Prices start from Prices start from $1056 for up to four passengers.
Hardy Aviation
Tel: 08 8927 8111
Nights at Bullo River Station start from $657 per person twin share which includes all meals, drinks and activities.
Outback Encounter
Tel: 08 8354 4405
