Kings Creek Station, Northern Territory: Size, accommodation and tours
On a Kings Creek Station tour in the Northern Territory’s Red Centre, you learn that the outback cattle station covers 1,800 square kilometres.
Kings Creek Station is a bit bigger than just a farm. This outback cattle station near Kings Canyon in the Red Centre covers 1,800 square kilometres. That’s an area that’s difficult to visualise and, as it turns out, difficult to monitor too.
On a Kings Creek Station tour, the guide says: “We think we’ve got 800 to 1,000 head of cattle, but no-one’s counted.”
“And there are no fences at the other end, so if a cow walks in from the neighbouring station, he’s ours.”
How big is Kings Creek Station?
By the standards of outback cattle stations, the Kings Creek Station is by no means the largest. It is also relatively close to civilisation. It’s on a sealed road branching off the Lasseter Highway towards King’s Canyon. You can make it to Alice Springs in about three-and-a-half hours in a 4WD.
Kings Creek Station, by anyone else’s standards, is enormous and terrifyingly remote. Kings Creek Station is more than two-and-a-half times the size of Singapore (716 square kilometres). It is four times the size of Barbados (430 square kilometres). But it’s still tiny compared to the Anna Creek Station in South Australia. At 24,000 square kilometres, that outback cattle station is bigger than Slovenia, Israel, Belize or El Salvador.
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Why are outback cattle stations so big?
These outback cattle stations have to be so big because the land is thoroughly inhospitable. The cattle and camels farmed here have to spread far and wide to get enough vegetation and water. “No-one has the faintest idea how many camels we’ve got,” says the Kings Creek Station tour guide.
Kings Creek, despite the name, has no permanent surface water source. Bores are dug deep down to supply water for the cattle and humans. Many of the latter are tourists staying a night or two in what passes for comfort in these parts.
Kings Creek Station tours: Wild camels and George Gill Range
A few tanks are dotted around, with water piped to troughs. That’s generally where you’ll find the cattle. But the camels are essentially wild – they can go without water for days, and spend the bulk of their time AWOL. To round them up, a helicopter is required.
The tours finish on a hill overlooking the George Gill Range. The visitors are hopelessly lost, but mercifully the guide isn’t.
“The mountain ranges run east to west,” he says. “And they channel the winds that way too, meaning the dunes normally form north to south. So if you’re ever lost, use the sun, the ranges and the dunes to get your direction.”
Kings Creek Station accommodation
The Kings Creek Station offers camping and accommodation near Kings Canyon in the Watarrka National Park. It can be included as part of a journey through the Red Centre including Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and Mt Conner.
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