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A working cattle property in central NSW is a hot corporate destination, writes Fiona Carruthers.
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You can take your whiteboard and your marker out and sit under a tree with the cattle if you want. |
Access is no problem, as Burrawang has an airstrip large enough to handle a DC3. Travelling time is one hour by air from Sydney or 80 minutes by air from Melbourne. Otherwise, It's a 40-minute drive from Parkes airport.
Robert says that though there are working properties in Queensland that people can visit, there's nothing that compares for proximity to Sydney and Melbourne - or offers the same level of luxury. A recent write-up in the American media has also helped. "One agent in the US sent a group here, and since then we've had an influx of Americans," he says.
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Since it opened in 2000, Burrawang W est Station has featured in Luxury Travel Magazine, Gourmet Traveller, Highlife Magazine and Bride To Be - just to name a few. It has captured a broad rang e of clients, hosting everything from 50th birthday getaway weekends to weddings and hardcore corporate powwows, for companies such as Estee Lauder, Unilever, Guinness, Toyota and Westpac Banking Corporation.
Many an Aussie might marvel at how the flat, fly-infested paddocks of the Burrawang West Station in the Lachlan River country of central NSW have become a highly sought-after tourist destination.
Nevertheless, you can't deny that the runs are on the board.
Station retreat managers Robert and Rose Koppes believe part of the success is simply that the property is unique.
"We've been around a few years now, but as far as we know, there's s till nothing on the market like this," says Robert.
"We're a unique outback experience: staying in complete luxury on a 10,000 acre real
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working farm just one hour from Sydney by air."
To the Australian eye, it's a slightly discordant sight to drive through the gate of a dusty working cattle property and find a shimmering, pale blue, 20-metre pool with stylish deckchairs and umbrellas, not to mention a faux colonial-style hut housing luxurious his-and-hers spa baths and a sauna.
Burrawang Station began life in the mid-l800s when an early squatter. Thomas Kite, stocked an area west of the Blue Mountains and called it Burrawang Run. It gradually developed into Burrawang Station. By 1866, it sprawled over 520,000 acres (227,000 hectares).
Since then, it has changed hands a few times, including coming under the control of a Japanese corporate high-flyer, who installed the luxury accommodation as a getaway for his stressed-out executives. The present owner bought it in 2000. Today, Burrawang West offers 12 luxury cabins - complete with screened verandas and antiques - catering for up to 24 people.
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The other great key to success is solitude - and guaranteed zero mobile coverage. "One guy had three separate conferences out here just because he got so much work done. He couldn't stop coming back," Robert says.
Rose often has the job of ferrying the newly chilled-out executives back to Parkes airport at the end of a retreat. "When you get in range as you come in to Parkes, they all scramble to turn their phones on after three days or whatever of having them off," she says. "It's fairly noisy when 12 people turn on phones ... and they've each got 30-plus messages - a lot of beeping."
Robert encourages executives to get creative with their conferences. "You can take your whiteboard and your marker out and sit under a tree with the cattle if you want. We encourage them to think outside the square here."
Burrawang also provides the ideal antidote to the triple A personality types commonly found in the corporate sector. Some bosses send teams to Burrawang as a reward. But it can be hard to wear out high-flyers. To this end. Burrawang offers fishing, hot-air ballooning, four-wheel bike riding, canoeing. Aboriginal painting classes, tennis, golf and archery. It's usually enough to tire even the most outgoing sales and marketing manager - but only just.
"I've had some guys do all that during the day, then come in and want to stay up all night drinking and playing pool," Robert says.
"It's pretty amazing the energy some of them have got, but we usually wear them out in the end." |
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