A family farm stay bucket list

13-year-old mucks in with his pick of rafferty laight the ultimate Australian farm stay holidays for kids.

Mowbray Park Farmstay macarthur, nsw

Mowbray Park offers family accommodation, horse riding and snuggle time with your favourite fluffy critters such as donkeys and alpacas, and it dates back as far as the early days of European settlement in Australia. I reckon I need to revisit now I’m big enough to tell the difference between an alpaca and a backpacker. farmstayholidays.com.au

Comeroo Camel Station bourke, nsw

Comeroo Camel Station is gargantuan – spanning 40,470 hectares – and it’s not only home to cattle and sheep, but also camels, which I reckon is pretty cool. The station offers a place to stay as well as heaps of activities like camel rides, wagon rides, yabby fishing, canoeing, a therapeutic natural spa and more. comeroo.com

Curringa Farm hamilton, tas

A luxury farm stay served with a side of lovely lake, Curringa Farm is a 300-hectare working sheep farm overlooking Lake Meadowbank, a one-hour drive northwest of Hobart. There're around 3,000 sheep on the farm and guests can enjoy watching shearing and working farm dogs rounding up the sheep, as well as bushwalks and more. curringafarm.com.au

Mount Mulligan Lodge mount mulligan, qld

Mount Mulligan Lodge provides luxury accommodation smack bang in the middle of wild Outback Queensland. With gourmet food that looks genuinely amazing, as well as activities like ATV adventures, historic tours, wildlife spotting, barramundi fishing and helicopter tours, this one is top of my bucket list. mountmulligan.com

Tommerup’s Dairy Farm kerry, qld

Tommerup’s Dairy Farm is the perfect place for anyone looking for an authentic insight into life on the farm, and it doesn’t shy away from giving guests (if willing) a few chores. Whether that’s hand milking the cows or feeding the sheep, calves and chickens, there’s so much to do on this family-run farm. tommerupsfarmstay.com.au

Home Valley Station kununurra, wa

Home Valley, managed by the Balanggarra people, is an outback cattle station offering awesome experiences including horse riding, facilities such as a pool and a fab restaurant, as well as providing an epic base to explore the East Kimberley. I’d go just to see one of the amazing Kimberley sunsets. hvstation.com.au

Dunsborough Rail Carriages &,Farm Cottages dunsborough wa

On this 40-hectare working farm, guests can stay in cottages or converted historic, jarrah rail carriages. Along with the local wildlife, farmyard friends come in the form of alpacas and farm dogs. Guests can even help to collect eggs fresh from the chicken coop. dunsborough.com

Kings Creek Station petermann, nt

This cattle station offers everything from camping to luxury tents, and has loads of activities. There are awesome Aboriginal cultural tours with bush tucker (including witchetty grubs), you can zoom along a dirt track on a buggy tour or take to the skies on a helicopter flight. All three sound totally epic… bring on the grubs! kingscreekstation.com.au

Narnu Farm hindmarsh island , sa

Narnu Farm on the Fleurieu Peninsula offers families quaint cottage accommodation with a side of deer, emu, guinea pig, goat, sheep and bottle-fed baby animals. There are also eco-adventures galore, including kayaking, horse riding and cockling at Goolwa Beach, which sounds super fun. narnufarm.com.au