Family dude ranch vacations could provide the solution to the problem faced by almost every parent: getting the kids away from the X-Box! Whether your child is glued to their games console, computer, television screen or cell phone, family dude ranch vacations can tear even the most gadget-savvy child out of the digital age and enlighten them to the simpler ways to enjoy life.

Top50 Ranches has come up with 10 wonderful ways to de-gadget your kids on a family dude ranch vacation – try these simple strategies for size…

1. Get ‘em in the saddle at Red Horse Mountain Ranch and you’ll have a hard time trying to get them back off the horse! The Idaho family dude ranch’s children’s program includes horseback riding for children as young as three years, allowing kids to go horseback riding on the trail with the rest of the family.

2. Let them jump in at the deep end – literally! – at Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge, whose all-inclusive Montana family vacations include lake water sports among a whole host of other ranch activities. In fact, at Flathead Lake Lodge the kids can enjoy the most diverse range of all-inclusive activities offered by any USA ranch – think horseback riding, sailing, personalized fly-fishing, water sports, horseback riding, rodeo, tepee campouts, family barn dances and so much more.

3. Send them mountain biking at Majestic Dude Ranch, which boasts an impressive fleet of brand new, state-of-the-art bikes for every age and size. With pro-cyclist Nick as their guide, the kids will be awestruck at the exciting cycle trails to tackle in Colorado’s beautiful Mesa Verde National Forest, some of which have been named in the top 10 mountain biking trails in the USA.

4. Make ‘em cowboys! At Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge, kids get to try out real rodeo games in the arena during the week, then put their new cowboy skills to the test in the weekly take-part family rodeo. The only thing they’ll want to watch on TV after this is ‘Eight Seconds’!

5. Set your teens loose in Yellowstone on Lone Mountain Guest Ranch’s “Teens Only” tour of the national park, on a backpacking trip into the Spanish Peaks. Not only will they not be able to get cell phone service in the mountains, they’ll probably forget why they ever bothered with texting in the first place.

6. Get bonding with your daughter at the Sugar and Spice Ranch in Texas, USA. The moms-and-daughters dude ranch encourages bonding through fun horseback games, rodeo and horse care activities. If your little girl loves horses, she’ll love this Texas family vacation – and so will you!

7. Forget heading to town for 10-pin bowling – Montana's The Ranch at Rock Creek’s Silver Dollar Saloon entertainment area comes fully equipped with a four-lane bowling alley, complete with computerized scoring, a selection of balls and bowling shoes in assorted sizes. Strike!

8. Swimming with dolphins? So last year. This year’s family ranch vacation is all about swimming with horses. That’s right, head to Sweet Grass Ranch for a Montana family vacation where the kids – and you! – can enjoy swimming your horse bareback in the creek.

9. Roll them down a hill. Yes, really! It’s all about “zorbing” these days, so take a Montana family vacation at The Resort at Paws Up, which offers exactly that. What could be a better way to get your thrill-seeker kids outdoors than to ask them to strap themselves inside a giant bouncy ball and launch themselves down a hill? (See above.) Don’t worry, it’s all fully supervised and totally safe!

10. Get ‘em chasing cows on cattle drives at Bonanza Creek Ranch. Your Montana family vacation will see them doing the job of wranglers, with guests of all ages, if able to control their horse independently, encouraged to play an active role in the working ranch’s style cattle drives. Prepare to unleash their inner Billy the Kid!

For more information on family dude ranch vacations, visit Top50Ranches.com

Colorado guest ranch Majestic Dude Ranch is no ordinary ranching operation. When LA movie theater owner Robert Bucksbaum recently aquired what was previously Mancos Lake Ranch and renamed it Majestic Dude Ranch, he knew it would be a challenge. So how has Robert fared in the dude ranch vacation industry? We spoke to the Colorado dude ranch owner on his journey from city slicker to guest rancher...

Robert - from Majestic Crest Theater to Majestic Dude Ranch!

So Robert, what made you decide to buy the ranch in the first place?

I plead temporary insanity, your honor… You have to be a little crazy to even consider buying a dude ranch these days! I’m actually working my way up from the bottom of the toughest industries - single screen movie theatres to dude ranches. My next business venture will probably involve a popsicle stand in Antarctica! Seriously, I was looking for an excuse to have the most fun one can possibly have and still call it work…

So far, what has been the biggest challenge of running a dude ranch?

I never had a clue about how difficult it would be to run a dude ranch. My first plan was to buy as many fun toys as possible - kayaks, high-end mountain bikes, fly-fishing rods, trucks, horses, a baseball field, etc - and just plan on having a blast with all the guests. Only I didn’t consider the amount of behind-the-scenes work it takes to enjoy all the things Majestic Dude Ranch has to offer. I remember going to my first dude ranch convention (more fun than you can imagine!), surrounded by second- and third-generation ranchers with tons of experience. They were having a Q&A and I was the first to raise my hand and asked the group, “How do you operate a dude ranch?” After about 10 minutes of laughter, I said I was serious but no one really believed me. I thought there would be a “How to Operate a Dude Ranch for Dummies” guidebook, but all I could find was this old '50s book called “Westward Ho”. It was based on a true story of a New York couple who left high society to operate a dude ranch in New Mexico. It was a terrific book but it scared me to death, describing all the problems that would occur in your first year of operation. Funny enough, just about everything in that book came to fruition in my first year – I guess nothing much has changed since the '50s!

How does life at Majestic Dude Ranch differ to life in LA, and what have been the biggest lifestyle adaptations you've had to make?

I can’t possibly imagine a bigger extreme going from LA to Colorado. LA is super fast-paced, crowded and everyone seems to be on a mission to go somewhere all the time. CO is laid back, wide open and people are so genuinely nice. I can honestly say there is no better place to live than southwest Colorado in the summertime – pristine air, crystal clean water, no traffic, terrific people, breathtaking scenery… LA has its good points as well, with so much to do and terrific weather in the winter, so I feel very lucky and fortunate to experience both worlds. When I first got to the ranch last year in January, there was about five feet of snow on the ground. It doesn’t snow much in LA, so my kids were running around the ranch in super-thin white socks - after about an hour they were reeling in pain from near frostbite! We had a few pipes freeze and burst because the water wasn’t properly shut down. So I had to think of some creative ways for my kids to be able to shower, use the bathroom and thaw out their feet and hands. If you ever need to melt snow in a hurry – I’m the guy to ask.

How has your experience of being a movie theater owner helped you in taking on a dude ranch?

I think my experience serving in the Army as a paratrooper helped the most, since I gained a tremendous amount of confidence and experience from training and "roughing it" in several different environments. Operating single-screen movie theatres involves putting out small fires and dealing with hundreds of customers at a time – so pretty similar to operating a ranch. I learned that it’s basically impossible to please everyone in a movie theatre business – you’re always going to encounter someone who had a bad day and will take it out on the staff. I remember one time I had a sold-out show with 450 customers. One of the rollers on our platter holding the film broke so I basically had to hold the film in place by hand for a 3-hour movie. Every hour or so, my arms would get tired and the film would skip a beat. Even though 99% of the audience had no idea what went on behind the scenes, I ended up giving everyone free popcorn and a free pass to come back another time. But I still had several customers that vehemently complained and acted as if I’d ruined their entire lives. Dealing with customers at the ranch is a pleasure, since most Majestic guests are so grateful and are even willing to give you a hand just to gain the experience of ranch life. It’s really an amazing transformation that take place each week when the guests arrive. At first, they are all amped up and stressed out from their daily life and workload. As soon as they see the ranch and experience some of the unique activities we offer, they quickly shed their anxieties, relax and have the time of their life.

Are there any similarities between the two lifestyles - how have they merged?

Well, I had no problem setting up an outdoor movie theatre at the ranch with fresh popcorn! It’s really special for guests to be able to experience an outdoor movie under more stars than they’ve probably seen in a lifetime and not have to worry about cold weather or mosquitoes. It’s quickly become one of our most popular nighttime activities and has really helped bring my two worlds together.

What do your family think of ranch life?

I'm recently divorced and the ranch has helped in my relationship with my ex-wife – specifically in the way we raise and interact with our children. I have three kids - identical 13-year-old twin boys and a seven-year-old girl. I can’t think of a better atmosphere to raise kids and it’s a terrific balance they share between life in LA and life on the ranch. My boys love baseball - so of course I had to be the only dude ranch in the world with its own baseball field and batting cage! My daughter loves horses and dancing, so line dancing is a big part of our nightly activities. I’ve met many adults and kids that grew up on ranches and they seem to be the most well-adjusted people on earth, so I think this experience can only bring my kids and I closer together.

What are hopes for Majestic Dude Ranch - where do you see it in five years' time?

Just about every dude ranch owner I spoke to gave me the same advice: “You’re probably going to want to spend a ton of money on the ranch first year – don’t! I guess I’m not very good at taking advice – I spent almost as much in upgrades in the first year than I did on the original purchase of the ranch. Every year I plan on making significant improvements so I can keep guests returning and hopefully get the word out that the Majestic is one place that creates special memories that last a lifetime. I’d love to be one of those ranches that don’t worry about marketing and just welcome back the same guests year after year.

Happy guests at Majestic

What's the best thing about life as a dude ranch owner?

By far, the best thing about dude ranch life is the guests you meet and the fact you’re establishing lifelong friends. Despite all the hard work, the lifestyle is extremely worthwhile – especially after seeing the true joy on guests’ faces after experiencing some of the unique activities we offer at the ranch. And that makes it pretty tough to say goodbye each week. But thanks to social media, we’re all able to remain pretty close during the off season.

And how are your cowboy skills coming along?!

I’ve become an expert at mucking stalls – it’s all in the wrist! Most of my experience is trial by error. I remember being awoken by a guest at 3:00 in the morning one night: “Excuse me Robert, but are the horses supposed to be outside?” Someone had left one of our gates open so I was walking around in complete darkness catching horses on the baseball field, playing volleyball, destroying our archery course, eating hundreds of bales of hay… It took me and my boys and their friends three days to pick up all the poop – we found some in the most interesting places. I’ve also developed a special bond with our horses, so I can help calm people's nerves when they are too timid to ride. It’s so important to match the horse with the right guest and vice versa – most of the time we get it right. Some guests even referred to me as a horse whisperer, which makes me really happy! Not bad for a one-time city slicker…

And finally...Describe a typical day on the ranch

I love spending time with the guests so in guest season I’m usually serving as an assistant mountain bike guide, riding horseback or taking guests to a special fly-fishing spot. Since activities start at breakfast and last until well past sunset, I spend the early morning hours preparing for the day, and the nighttime hours on marketing. Basically, I’m looking at 18-hour days during season. In the off season, I spend around ten hours a day marketing. And I wouldn’t have it any other way – it’s what I love to do.

For more information on dude ranch vacations at Majestic Dude Ranch, view their ranch profile at Top50Ranches.com

Running a guest ranch is about much more than playing host and offering excellent hospitality. Providing dude ranch vacations brings with it a whole set of challenges as well as constant change, to which luxury dude ranch resorts and working ranches alike much adapt to in order to keep their ranching businesses – and their livelihoods – alive.

Ranching and the recession
One of the biggest challenges even the best guest ranches have had to adapt to, just like the rest of the western world, is the recent economic downturn. Tracey O’Connell, owner of Canada guest ranch Tod Mountain, found herself in a particularly unfavorable position just as the recession hit. Having purchased the ranch just a few months prior, Tracey was forced to quickly adapt her plans to allow for the sudden economic instability. “Construction started on Tod Mountain Ranch just a few months before the recession hit – not a great time to start a business!” she recalls. “So from day one the business plan had to be redeveloped.” Along with financial implications, the recession has also significantly changed the demographic of Tod Mountain’s guests.

Tracey was forced to adapt Tod Mountain's marketing strategy when the recession hit

“In our first year of operation, the majority of our guests came from Europe, but over the past few years we’ve welcomed far more guests from within Canada – a significant proportion of them from our own province of British Columbia,” explains Tracey, who was forced to adapt Tod Mountain Ranch’s marketing strategy and budget accordingly. “Only for the 2012 season does the number of European travellers seem to be increasing – we are certainly looking forward to welcoming them back.”

Another Canada guest ranch which had to totally re-think its marketing strategy is Three Bars Ranch. Says the BC guest ranch’s owner Tyler Beckley: “Up until recently, we never considered the local market as a significant part of our business, but in the last few years people are traveling much closer to home, something which has made us totally re-think our marketing strategy.” Another challenge Tyler and the Three Bars team faced was a shift in the booking cycle, with guests who would normally book dude ranch vacations six or seven month in advance, instead signing on the dotted line as close to two or three weeks prior to their ranch vacation. “This has made planning and staffing very difficult,” admits Tyler.

Dean and Karen May of North Fork Ranch in Colorado, USA, also had to adapt their staffing principles in the face of the recession. “We have had to hire fewer staff, but rotate their schedules to keep them under 40 hours per week – while still ensuring guests get a full staff interaction,” explains Dean. And instead of discounting their ranch vacations, Dean and Karen have instead chosen to give guests more their money, adding value with extra activities included in the price. “We have added zip line, a jeep tour and mountain biking – all contracted through local companies, which helps all of us.”

North Fork Ranch offers guests more for their dollar

Further north in Wyoming at the Lazy L&B Ranch, Lee Naylon has faced similar challenges. “Over the last few years, those guests finding the money for a dude ranch vacation have tended to choose the same three weeks in summer. This focused demand means that we have to turn some guests away for those three weeks, while finding ourselves unable to fill other weeks in the season.” Lee has found the personal touch helpful in securing bookings, and regularly visits with potential guests to learn what could persuade them to take a dude ranch vacation at Lazy L&B. “It is wonderful to speak to potential guests and find out what it is they want,” says Lee. “One thing appears to be shorter ranch vacations, often just for a few days.” This has meant having to adjust staffing, meals, and horseback riding schedules, something Lee and her family are still brainstorming on how best to manage. “We have definitely had to change our mind set as to how to accommodate shorter stays, but we understand the way things are for guests, too, so we do as much as we can to accommodate their needs.”

Robert Bucksbaum agrees. “It’s tough out there these days,” admits the LA movie theater owner, who is relatively new to the ranching world, having acquired Majestic Dude Ranch in Colorado just one year ago. “It can be hard to convince someone to spend a significant chunk of change on a vacation. We appreciate that guests are spending their hard-earned money, especially in today’s tough economy, so we strive to make sure they get their money’s worth in return. I find that offering all-inclusive packages allows guests to forget about being 'nickel and dimed' with added costs for food, activities or tours for the week – they can just relax and have the time of their life.”

Remote access
While the remote location of some guest ranches is a big attraction for many travelers looking to escape from the city or the hustle and bustle of everyday life, for the ranches themselves such a secluded environment can bring with it a real set of challenges. Says Lee: “We understand it can be hard for guests, especially families, to travel a long way to reach our ranch. To help fund the expense of travel we offer lower-priced ranch vacations – this not only makes getting to Lazy L&B that bit more affordable, but our ranch vacation packages just as attractive as more conveniently located ranches.”

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort's remote location poses logistical challenges

For Canada guest ranch Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, its remote location on the west coast of Vancouver island poses very real logistical challenges. “The remoteness of the lodge always brings a good twist to the conversation,” says Kathy MacRae, social media and marketing manager at the tented safari camp, whose guest’s kick-start their wilderness adventure with a jaw-dropping float plane ride from Vancouver straight to the ranch’s dock. What might be a novelty for guests is a real logistical challenge for Clayoquot, however, which had to find a practical yet cost-effective way of shipping supplies. “We boat all supplies in and out all year long, from food orders to construction equipment,” explains Kathy. “Out of season, the small crew that stays behind to maintain the resort and feed the 30-plus horses relies on boats to get them in and out of the lodge.” That means a 40-minute boat ride from Tofino, which can sometimes take much longer “– or at least it can feel much longer, what with our wild west coast weather that we get from October to March!” laughs Kathy. While daily items like food are brought in by the nine boats used for the guest ranch’s water activities, shipping in heavy materials requires a much larger boat – an 80-foot landing craft tank carrier, to be exact. Says Kathy: “It’s a real ‘Saving Private Ryan’-style US navy boat!”

For Tyler, the rural location of Three Bars Ranch poses a very different challenge: the divide between the urban and rural population. “Some people just don’t know anything about nature or agriculture,” he explains. “They might have every new gadget and are constantly connected via social media, but they don’t know how to have our kind of fun.” With this type of market proving notoriously difficult for guest ranches to reach, Tyler took the controversial decision to provide satellite TV, Wi-Fi and cell phone reception on-site. “But if I and my staff do our job right,” insists Tyler, “the TV stays off; the cell phones come out less and less, and, maybe by the end of the week, actually stay in the room. We have a goal here at the ranch – if half of our guests are not crying on checkout because they are sad to leave, we have not done our job.”

It is the physical geography and climate that poses a very real threat to Tod Mountain’s existence – something Tracey knows through bitter experience. “Our ranch is in prime forest fire territory and, every year since opening, we have experienced fires within 50 kilometers of the ranch,” she explains. Although a constant worry for Tracey to have not only her home, but her whole source of income under threat, she still manages to find positives in the face of danger. “Although we have lost the use of a number of our trails to the west of our property, the construction of a new fireguard has opened up a whole new trail for us.”

Personality tests
With people of all backgrounds and personalities taking dude ranch vacations, another challenge faced by every ranch is the many different ages, tastes and expectations of their guests. How do ranches adapt to providing each guest with what is their idea of the perfect ranch vacation? “Our team is as diverse as the guests we welcome,” explains Tracey. “Tod Mountain Ranch employees are truly international with a broad age range – from 20 to, well, much older! And all with diverse backgrounds and lifestyles.”

“We hand-pick each and every one of North Fork Ranch’s staff,” adds Dean, whose small, family-owned and operated ranch focuses on attention to detail when it comes to guest hospitality. “Personalities are what makes people special, so we meet our guests needs with a ‘can do, will do’ attitude.”

Lee, also, believes enthusiasm is the key. “I hire staff with a mutual enthusiasm, and a desire to work hard and enjoy where they are. Our guests are always impressed not only with our staff’s attentiveness, but by how well they all get along together.”

Needless to say it takes a special team of staff to offer the uncompromising hospitality required on guest ranches, which is why Robert goes to great lengths to ensure Majestic’s employees are the best of the best. “We typically evaluate between 5,000 and 10,000 resumes every year,” he explains. “We conduct intense interviews and extensive background checks to make sure our staff are qualified and prepared for the challenges of helping run the ranch.”

Tyler wholly embraces so-called ‘difficult’ guests “– the kind of people who go through life getting what they need by complaining,” he says. “What we do is treat these guests like normal people. It might take a day or two, but most actually change while they are here. Time and time again, it is the most demanding guests who come to us at the end of the week, thank us for the time of their lives, and re-book for next year.”

Tyler's dedicated staff at Three Bars Ranch make every guest's ranch vacation special

“But you just never know what type of stressful job or situation someone goes through before arriving at the ranch,” adds Robert. “And it pays to give people the benefit of the doubt.” This was never truer than the time one of his guests complained about everything as soon as she stepped foot on Majestic soil, with nothing Robert or his staff could do seeming to please her. “But, as we do with all our ‘tough’ guests, we tried to personalize her vacation, finding out her interests doing everything we could to make sure she had a terrific time,” he explains. “At the end of the trip she cried, gave me a long hug and said she didn’t want to leave. She later explained that she had recently lost a family member, and was so grateful to us for ‘putting up’ with her that she wrote individual notes to all the staff, personally thanking them for their hospitality.”

And it is this uncompromising spirit of perseverance that keeps the guest ranching world alive. Whether the challenge comes from one guest, a shift in the economy or a force of nature, guest ranch owners are constantly adapting and changing to keep their livelihoods - well, alive. And that’s something a lot of businesses could learn from.

Faced with the challenge of finding the perfect ranch vacation? Find the one for you at Top50Ranches.com

Top50 shares some handy tips on how to ruin your dude ranch vacation (ie, do the exact opposite)

Some 'souvenirs' are best left at the ranch...

1. Leave the kids home alone

Tempting as it is to get away from the children and enjoy a dude ranch vacation alone, you can’t guarantee you’ll return with your house intact or at least one family heirloom broken after the raucous party they will – trust us – throw while you’re away. For your own sanity, take them with you on a family dude ranch vacation. Sign ‘em up on a teens’ program and you won’t even have to look at them.

2. Assume the weather will be great

If you go into hibernation at the slightest fall in temperature or drop of rain, or have a tendency to pass out in anything above 90 degrees, you’ll want to know what to expect before you a) sign on the dotted line and b) start packing nothing but shorts and bikini tops. Check the climate charts on your chosen dude ranch’s Top50 profile before booking your dude ranch vacation.

3. Go off the ranch website alone

Pretty website = best ranch in the world. Right? Well you could chance it, but we recommend checking out Top50 Ranches as well. Not only are all of Top50’s luxury dude ranches, guest ranches and working ranches carefully vetted to guarantee you excellence in riding, hospitality and accommodations, but comparing your chosen dude ranch to other Top50 ranches might throw up some options you hadn’t considered. Better still, get in touch with Top50 and we can recommend to you the best ranches that match your needs and expectations.

4. Assume horseback riding is easy (on your butt)

It’s not. Even the most experienced riders will find all-day rides, every day, a little testing on the derriere – not to mention every other muscle in your body. While riding like John Wayne can be taught on your ranch vacation, getting in shape for horseback riding takes time and effort prior to setting off for your ranch vacation. Whether it’s getting in some saddle time, hitting the gym or sitting on a big round barrel for a few hours a day, getting in shape for riding will avoid all sorts of embarrassing wheelchair/bed-bound situations.

5. Don’t pack a sports bra

What could be better than loping through tree-lined pastures with the wind blowing through your hair – and your ample cleavage bounding along with more enthusiasm than your trusty steed? While guys might be immune from chest-related trauma, we advise women to pack several change of sports bra. Heck, wear 'em all at once if you have to.

6. Don’t buy travel insurance

Save money to spend on cowboy boots by not bothering with travel insurance. Just remember losing your horsey wardrobe before you even make it to your dude ranch (cue spending the entire vacation swathed in your partner’s oversize jeans and shirts) might get a little tedious. Oh, and not being able to afford to save your limb after being bitten by a rattlesnake on your pack trip could prove inconvenient.

7. Forget your passport

Remembering you left the entire family’s passports on the sideboard in the hallway is THE way to kick-start your dude ranch vacation. And while native travellers might not need a passport for domestic flights, flashing your library card as ID won’t get you far past immigration officers.

8. Make jokes with airport staff

Test the humor of airport security officials by making witty remarks about what you’ve got in your bag – be it 50lb of cocaine, a rare strain of bird flu, or a small Mexican. They’re unlikely to find it as hilarious as you do. Likewise, we advise against making sarcastic comments regarding a bomb in your bag to an air steward – unless you’d prefer to stay in a prison cell than a cozy log cabin at your luxury dude ranch.

9. Take to the saddle all guns blazing

(Not literally, that would be stupid.) You’ve arrived at the ranch and you’re ready to ride the range – so you promptly sign up for a 10-hour horseback ride. Well make the most of it, because it’ll be the only horseback ride you’ll be taking this vacation – and probably this year. Starting out with a couple of 1-2 hour trail rides and building up to longer, faster rides and cattle drives will ensure you get the most out of your ranch vacation. Your butt will thank you for it.

10. Infuriate (and possibly injure) fellow horseback riders

Sitting astride your ranch horse as you ride through open ranges, you’re swept up in the moment and decide it’s time for an ad-hoc lope through the long grass. “Yeehah!” Not so much fun for the less experienced riders in the group, nor your wrangler guide who’s trying to give a history of the guest ranch. You might be capable of controlling your horse, but don’t assume the same goes for the rest of the group. Taking off unannounced isn’t going to make you particularly popular around the dinner table that night. Or ever.

For more information on all of Top50's great range of dude ranch vacations, guest ranches and working ranches, visit Top50Ranches.com

Outback Australia: A WWOOFer’s guide to life on the land

How does a London desk bunny adapt to the remote red dust of Western Australia? Laura Mannering, journalist and editor of online travel magazine World Out There, tells Top50 Ranches about the time she was shown the ropes by two Outback cattle station owners…

Accessing Outback Australia can be hard if you don’t want to spend a fortune, but are keen to avoid the backpacker trail. A two-week volunteer placement on a cattle station called Wonganoo, in the Goldfields of Western Australia, gave me a first-hand insight into Outback existence.

The station spreads over a million acres of burnt Martian landscape, with 3,000 cattle hiding amid the sparse, wizened vegetation. Having grown up in London and lived in the city most of my life, being somewhere so remote was an eye-opener.

Wonganoo is 240km from the nearest small township, Leonora, and a seven-hour drive from the much bigger mining hub of Kalgoorlie. Food is delivered to Wonganoo by the mail man once a week. If you’re really ill, you call the flying doctor. The myriad choices of day-to-day city living are totally absent. I was surprised at how soothing I found it – the huge starry skies at night, the terracotta earth stretching uninterrupted to the horizon. But it was my hosts who really made it special.

Station owners Kathy and Malcolm Boladeras welcomed me in and taught me how to use a power drill, mend barbed-wire fences, solar panels and windmills, lay baits for dingoes (their sheep were wiped out by a dingo invasion five years ago and they are worried their calves will go the same way) and mince camel steaks (there are around 500,000 feral camels in Western Australia, originally imported in the 19th century as a means of transport. Station owners cull them and nutritionists were promoting camel meat as ‘healthier than beef’ when I was there). As Malcolm kindly put it, I was ‘on a very steep learning curve’.

Losing their flocks was a devastating blow and the end of an era at Wonganoo – Malcolm’s grandfather had set it up as a sheep station in 1925. Now the couple rely on cattle to make ends meet, but domestic beef prices are low and they make their best money selling bulls to Indonesia. Then there’s the weather – persistent drought relieved by the odd smattering of blessed rain.

Malcolm and Kathy have been taking volunteers at Wonganoo for several years to gain a helping hand – and to give them another way to connect with the world outside. It was a pleasure for me to learn about a way of life so different to my own, and to be welcomed into it so openly.

Volunteering Tips

I arranged my placement through Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) Australia which has plenty of Outback options. Sign up online or in person when you arrive in Australia. You’ll pay AUS$60 (around £40) and receive a directory of all the WWOOF hosts. Volunteers are unpaid, can be any age, and do not need a working holiday visa. Your host provides you with food and board and you lend them a hand. Using a tourist visa from the UK, I did five placements all over Australia in three months, and enjoyed them all.

To get the most out of your experience, it’s important to:

• Know what you want. Are you after something laid-back, or are you willing to pull out all the stops? Some hosts see their role as being a cultural guide, others will treat you as ‘one of the boys’ and expect you to muck in round the clock.

• Find recommendations from other volunteers via the WWOOF online forum, or by word of mouth if you are already travelling in Oz – plenty of travellers of all ages and backgrounds will have done a WWOOFing stint along the way.

• Speak to your host on the phone before you turn up. It’s a good chance to see if you click and to check they are bona fide. Lots of WWOOF hosts also have websites too, which are worth a look.

• Ask questions and make sure you are happy with the set up (the hours you’ll be helping out, where you’ll be sleeping, provision of meals, opportunities to explore the area). WWOOFers are expected to help out for four hours a day, but some hosts want more, some less. Most people ask you to stay for a minimum of five days, others will want a longer commitment.

• Trust your instincts – if you’ve gone down the line with a placement but don’t feel comfortable with the arrangements, politely back out. Once you’re on a remote farm, particularly if you don’t have your own transport, it can be hard to escape!

The Top50 Ranches team has been clickin’ its heel at news that three of its showcased guest ranch vacations are soon to be coming to a TV screen near you! ABC News will soon feature Zapata Ranch, Chico Basin Ranch, the Sugar and Spice Ranch, and new addition to Top50, Burntwell Ranch. Dates will be announced shortly, so be sure to check back to Top50 Ranches over the next week for confirmation.

Can’t catch the live TV screening of these Top50 USA guest ranches on ABC News? Don’t worry – after the show has been broadcast on ABC News, you’ll be able to watch the footage from Zapata, Chico Basin, Burntwell and Sugar and Spice ranches on the news channel’s website, www.abcnews.go.com

As if that weren’t enough, Zapata, Chico Basin, and Sugar and Spice ranches have also clinched a second high-profile media deal, with their guest ranch vacations being featured on luxury lifestyle guide website Just Luxe. Read the articles here!

Whether you head to one of Top50's dude ranch vacations, guest ranch vacations,working ranch vacations we know you'll have a great time. Or book a riding holiday estancia Argentina or a riding holiday, or to a working ranch in New Zealand, or go horse trekking in Australia, either way Top50 can help you find that ideal ranch experience.

Local Rider Magazine, UK, May 2010 recounts...Kate Matheson, former photo editor for Glamour Magazine, UK, now works with Top50 Ranches. Kate and Top50 Ranches were recently featured in Local Rider Magazine in the UK. The article highlights Kate's move from taking a 3 month sabatical from Glamour Magazine to travel to a Montana guest ranch. Living ranch-style for 3 months grabbed tight hold of her and hasn't let go! After falling in love with the wide open spaces and the ranch way of life, Kate resigned from Glamour Magazine and headed back out to the ranch. Creating a lasting relationship with the ranch owner and having a love for ranching, Kate has now been instrumental in the foundation of Top50 Ranches. Kate shares her time between England as a freelance photo editor for a number of UK publications and Montana working with Top50 Ranches.

Kate's passion that everyone should be able to enjoy the riding experience of a lifetime creates energy in spreading the word of Top50 Ranches, "when you have a product this amazing, it's easy to sell", Kate says. "With Top50, we're not looking for just any ranch, we're looking for only the best global ranches in the industry to ensure that you, as a guest, will have the top ranch experience. With the quality of ranches we represent, this is a product anyone would be proud of."

Local Rider quotes, "The site is a hub of inspirational and exciting riding opportunities. If you're looking to stay with a rustic ranch or in the height of luxury, (Top50) has something to get you reaching for your passport. Check out www.top50ranches.com You never know, it could change your life - it certainly has for Kate."