16 Feb 2019
Words
Melissa Howard, Commercial Real Estate
Kulgera Roadhouse in Outback NT is for Sale
A quintessentially outback roadhouse in the centre of Australia is tipped to fetch $3.5 million, as growing tourist numbers fuel increasing business profits.
The Kulgera Roadhouse, in the Northern Territory about 20 kilometres from the border with South Australia, is on almost 11 hectares of freehold land surrounded by cattle stations, vast red dirt, and roaming camels, emus and reptiles.
It is the first stop for drivers who need to fill up on their way from South Australia. It has 55 cabins, motel rooms, units and powered sites, a pub, restaurant, general store and swimming pool. They also produce their own potable water and electricity.
The roadhouse has an Aboriginal art gallery, with works painted by local Indigenous people, and they are the subcontractors for AANT, NT roadside assistance.
Owner-operator Chris Le Page said: “Because we’re so far from anywhere if people break down out here, they generally come to us for help. We started helping people out and the business kept growing and growing.”
The roadhouse is about 20 kilometres from the border with South Australia. Photo: Supplied
They even provide some emergency medical services. “We’re basically a nurses outpost, ” Mr Le Page said, with a defibrillator reserved particularly for the increasing amounts of “grey nomads”.
Kelli Crouch, Australian and Northern Territory broker at Resort Brokers Australia, who is handling the sale, said the isolated nature of roadhouses often meant big profits. “People come across the South Australian border,” or are on route to tourist attractions such as Uluru or Kings Canyon, and they need to refuel, she said.
There’s not much around “except cattle stations,” she said, and roadhouses are a “one-stop shop”, with food, fuel, alcohol, caravanning and camping sites, motel accommodation and mechanical services – without any competition.
They don’t look fancy, but Kulgera and similar businesses are “are making really good money,” said Ms Crouch.
“The last six months they’re continuing to show some really strong growth. A lot of that is being driven by increased caravan park numbers. We’ve got more and more caravans on the road, and camper trailers, more people travelling that way.”
Tourism Research Australia said that overnight trips increased 7 per cent in 2018, and visitor spending was up 5 per cent to $65.1 billion.
Kulgera began as a cattle station in 1927, selling fuel to passing traffic. The fuel was sent by rail, collected by donkey and wagon, then stored underground. In 1954, the store was built, and, a little later, the homestead. Since then, it has passed down to family members, and sold several times, until Mr Le Page and his wife, Jarla, bought it five years ago.
The Le Pages are selling reluctantly, due to needing to move interstate for family commitments.
“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Mr Le Page said. “It’s a business that’s run on a lot of long hours, seven days a week, and we can’t even shut the doors Christmas Day.”
The roadhouse would suit an owner who was up for a bit of adventure, according to owner Chris Le Page, above. Photo: Supplied
But it’s not all work. Every Cup Day they have yabby races “thoroughbred racing yabbies” – two different breeds were stocked in a dam and they interbred – with the money raised from bets going to local charities, and their massive “ground shaking” fireworks shows on Territory Day are infamous.
Mr Le Page said running Kulgera would suit those who can multitask, and are “up for a bit of adventure”.
“It’s not the Hilton,” he said. The temperatures ranged from “cold and dry” to “effing hot and dry” under the vast desert skies. “There’s actually a guy that comes every second year from England just to photograph the night sky.”
But there was a lot more freedom than in other parts of the country.
“We don’t get complaints from the neighbours because the closest one is 60 kilometres away.”
