4 Best Sights in The Kimberley, The Outback

This 700,000-acre property features some of the most ruggedly beautiful country in the Kimberley. El Questro has a full complement of recreational activities like fishing, swimming, horseback riding, and helicopter rides, and offers individually tailored walking and four-wheel-drive tours. Four independent accommodation facilities are on-site, each different in style and budget: the luxury Homestead (from A$3,285 per night with a two-night minimum-stay requirement and a policy that guests must be ages 16 and up); the safari-style tented cabins at Emma Gorge Resort (from A$350); air-conditioned Riverside Bungalows (from A$175); and Riverside Campgrounds (from A$30 per person per night) at El Questro Station. Each has a restaurant, and rates at the Homestead include drinks and food, laundry, and activities. Alternatively, you can choose to take a full-day tour of El Questro with included trips to Emma Gorge, Zebedee Springs, lunch at The Station, a Chamberlain River Cruise, and round-trip transport from Kununurra (A$268). Not renting a four-wheel-drive vehicle? Take a shuttle from Kununurra starting at A$110 each way to Emma Gorge Resort, A$135 each way to El Questro Station, and A$140 each way to El Questro Homestead.

If you've ever fancied being a cowboy or cowgirl, this massive 3½-million-acre working cattle farm at the foot of the majestic Cockburn (pronounced co-burn) range is the place to do it. Owned and operated by the traditional owners of the land, the Balanggarra people through the Indigenous Land Corporation, you can join a cattle muster or just take a half-day horse trek. Other activities include barramundi fishing and four-wheel-drive trips. There's a bar and restaurant on-site and a range of accommodations from stylish "Grass Castle" bungalows complete with cowskin rugs, air-conditioning, fully stocked minibar, flat-screen cable TV, huge walk-in rain shower, and resident tree frogs (from A$425) to motel-style guesthouse rooms (from A$275), and remote bush camping beside the Pentecost River, 4 km (2½ miles) from the homestead (from A$44 per person per night). Note that a four-wheel-drive vehicle is required to reach Home Valley Station and these can be rented in Kununurra via Avis, Budget, Hertz, Thrifty, and Europcar. Air transfers and charter flights can also be arranged from Kununurra Airport.

Located just 16 km (10 miles) north of downtown Kununurra on Weaber Plain Road, Hoochery Distillery offers tours at 2 pm (A$14) so you can get behind the scenes and learn all about the longest-running rum operation in Western Australia. Pick up some homemade Ord River rum cake and a cup of coffee at the on-site Hoochery Cafe, or treat yourself to a rum flight and sample some of the ones you just heard about on the tour.