Australia Weather News

Being able to enjoy water sports on an outback cattle station is not something that happens very often, especially in the desert.

But at Henbury Station, about 130 kilometres south of Alice Springs, the Finke River is full to the brim after rain in December and January.

Station manager Ashley Anderson said the property had received 50 to 80 millimetres of widespread rain, and it meant they had finally been able to put their jet ski to good use.

"[In 2015] after the Finke ran just before Christmas my brother and his family came up, so we ducked out and bought a second-hand jet ski," he said.

"[In 2016] the water holes were dry, but luckily between Christmas and new year the Finke ran.

"For the last week and a half we've been going down the river every afternoon and knee boarding and skiing and tubing. It's been very enjoyable."

Work comes before fun

The water sports are a great relief from the hot days, which can reach 46 degrees Celsius in summer, but the fun only comes after the work is complete.

"We usually go out early in the morning and do our bore runs and our fencing, and then get home about three o'clock and head down and have a ski," Mr Anderson said.

He said the station had started with a small collection of skis and tubes, then progressed to knee boards, wake boards and three-person tubes.

"We've had a few workers here from Germany and Canada and they've come to Central Australia and learnt how to knee board," Mr Anderson said.

He said when the jet ski was purchased, they had to convince the sellers they were legitimately after a jet ski in the middle of the desert.

"I rang him up and said where I was from and I just said 'Yes we'll buy it' and he was a bit doubtful. He didn't quite believe what happened."

Mr Anderson said the neighbours had been keen to join in the fun, despite having water on their own properties.

"There's a few places around here that have got clay pans and lakes. But our neighbours [still] come over on a Sunday and have a bit of fun," he said.

"It's quite a clean-flowing river, so you don't get the logs and the debris that some rivers get.

"Because it's so wide and full of sand within two days the water's cleaned right up, and you can almost see three or four feet into the bottom."

Mr Anderson said if the water sports were not to everyone's taste, fishing could be an option.

"But I think the boredom of fishing sort of doesn't quite match," he said.

Rain good for cattle

The heavy rainfall has not only been good for recreational use — it also has been good for cattle.

"We had good rain in June last year, and now this rain. Our cattle are really fat and shiny," Mr Anderson said.

"It's probably the first time in the three years we've been here we've had these conditions.

"Last year we had to offload because it was so dry, and we had to cut into our younger cattle, but this year we can keep our younger cattle and just sell the older stuff that are fat.

"The last two years the cattle have been struggling a little bit this time of year but at the moment, the cattle are calving and fat and it should be a good year."