Cattle station stay ticks boxes for fair dinkum outback experience

Movies such as Gallipoli, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Shiralee, Breaker Morant and The Lighthorseman have highlighted the timeless beauty of the region to a worldwide audience.

Back in 1950, when Hollywood mega-stars Maureen O'Hara and Peter Lawford, along with Aussie legend Chips Rafferty, arrived in Port Augusta to film the movie Kangaroo, cheering locals were beside themselves, and the stars were met with a "gala celebration".

Most of the movie's outdoor scenes were filmed at the foot of Mount Brown, at 964 metres one of the highest peaks in the Southern Flinders Ranges.

At Catninga Station, nestled in the foothills of Mount Brown 23 kilometres east of Port Augusta, film crews built an exact replica of a settler's cottage, where O'Hara, Lawler and Rafferty acted their hearts out in this story of criminals, swindlers and romance.

You can see the spectacular landscapes highlighted in Kangaroo and other films by staying at Catninga, which is part of Station Stays SA, a confederation of working sheep and cattle properties across the Flinders Ranges.

A station stay offers a quintessential outback experience without breaking the bank.

Accommodation options and prices vary at each station: some provide budget bush camping, caravan sites and shearers quarters, while others provide more creature comforts in glamps, cabins, bungalows and historic homesteads.

Set among mountain ranges that look like they've been draped in olive-green velvet, Catninga ticks all the boxes for an authentic outback sojourn.

Turning off the Flinders Ranges Way from Port Augusta, it's a nine-kilometre drive along an ochre-coloured gravel road to the station, established in the 1870s.

Originally a sheep station, it now raises shorthorn cattle and horses.

Station owners Heather Summerton and Brian Daniel are lifetime locals and make visitors welcome at this picturesque spot.

Situated midway between the Southern and Northern Finders Ranges, Catninga has four-wheel-drive tracks with 360-degree panoramas across the ranges, surrounding plains and the blue waters of the northern tip of Spencer Gulf.

The station provides an opportunity to access a section of the Heysen Trail - the 1200 kilometre-long trail named for artist Sir Hans Heysen and recognised as one of the world's great long distance walks.

Guests can also take a scenic 4WD drive with Heather and Brian, or tagalong tour if you have a 4WD, on the Mount Brown tour. It takes you through rugged gorges and across soaring ridge summits with incredible views, where you are likely to see wallabies, wallaroos and emus.

Catninga has accommodation options ranging from unpowered campsites tucked along redgum-lined creeks; powered caravan sites near the circa 1878 homestead; an onsite caravan, and a basic mountain cabin near the summit of Mount Brown.

There's also the option of an off-grid camping van that Heather and Brian will move to a secluded location on the property so you can lap up the serenity gazing at spectacular sunsets and night skies in private.

For those who love their creature comforts, a quirky 1960s train carriage near the homestead has been transformed into a comfortable B&B with every mod con including an ensuite bathroom.

Exploring Catninga, taking in sweeping views of the ranges and walking alongside a shady gum-studded creek you come across relics from the past such as wagons, farm sheds and an old brick chimney.

The chimney doesn't date from colonial times - although it looks like it does - rather, it's the remains of the settler's cottage built for Kangaroo.

Accommodation at Catninga Station is from $10 per person per night (creek-side campsite with bush shower) and mountain hut ($25 per person) to caravan sites ($30 per night), off-grid van ($60 per double) and train carriage B&B ($160 per double), visit www.catninga.com.

For more information on Flinders Ranges Station Stays visit www.stationstayssa.com.au