Alive in the Outback

Dirt. Dust. Flies. We’re in an open top safari car chasing water buffalo on one of Australia’s most iconic cattle stations. The sky melts red and the adrenaline is pumping but I can’t help but feel relaxed as the warm outback air flows deep into my lungs.

The thing about coming to a place like Leahton Park is you feel like you've traveled through time. The two hour drive from Queensland's coastal hub of Townsville delivers you to a place where life is simpler, people are friendlier and the stories they tell, well they’re so much wilder.

Like all good outback yarns, this tale begins with a couple of inspiring bush characters, Mick and Linda Bethel. In 2009 they realized there was a certain charm to the isolated life they led and opened their station to venturesome travelers. About as far as you can get from a generic hotel, the lodgings kind of feel like home. Well, probably not your home. Perhaps imagine if your Grandma ran a ranch in rural Australia, maybe it would be her home. The biscuits on your mantelpiece are homemade. The soap in the bathroom is hand cut. The majestic wooden breakfast table was crafted by the bloke on the property up the road. You share said table with a kangaroo named Penny, who bounds up gracefully for a pat and a piece of Vegemite on toast. A kangaroo eating Vegemite on toast. Yes, I'm aware the only way that sentence could be more Australian is if the kangaroo were swatting flies with a poster of Hugh Jackman.

As the sun dips in the seamless sky, Mick tracks African Watusis, ibis birds, Scottish Highlanders and bison. When the sapphire day gives way to silhouettes of the night, he turns off the engine and we sit in starry silence. Not a single siren, car alarm, radio or man made noise in earshot. Just us and the Earth. Then Mick wipes the dust from his brow, straightens his hat and says - “let's go home.”

When traveling Australia, it's so easy to hug the coast. We play in the waves by day and brush the sand out of our beds each night. But I can't encourage you enough to try something different. Pack the sunscreen and hiking pants and head inland. March to November are the prime months, before it gets too hot. Just make sure you've got a trusty printed map (remember those?) because limited reception means your google maps just wont cut it. I traveled to Leahton Park with enough curiosity to see what was there and I left with something worth much more… the feeling of being alive.