To most Australians El Questro Station, in the Kimberley in north-west Western Australia, is defined by its world-famous sprawling homestead, perched on the cliffs above the Chamberlain River, where a room for a night will set you back $2000 or more. It’s one of the most prestigious wilderness stays in Australia, enveloped in the vast Kimberley landscape and boasting that rarest of Kimberley natural wonders – a lush green manicured lawn.
But what many people do not realise is that only a minuscule proportion of visitors to El Questro Station stay at the Homestead – my digs are a half-hour drive away on another section of the 700,000-acre cattle station, now owned by the G’day Group. Checking in at the part of El Questro where I am staying is definitely part of the experience – first there is a spectacular drive out of Kununurra until you are in the spinifex plains surrounded by towering distinctive red mesas that run parallel to the mythical Gibb River Road, then an extremely corrugated, vehicle-rattling dirt road, past boabs, those most bloated and obese of trees.