Staff rewarded with luxurious trip to Kimberley

A lavish long-table dinner at Emma Gorge airstrip marked the end of an 11-day, all-expenses paid trip to the East Kimberley for Mercedes-Benz’s top employees.

A whopping 140 of the company’s “top-performing” staff and partners from Australia and New Zealand were treated to a junket to celebrate success in sales, post-sales and finance.

The group visited the region from April 26 to May 7, with the stay including a two-night stay at Freshwater East Kimberley Apartments and three nights at Emma Gorge.

First up was dinner and tastings at The Hoochery Distillery ahead of a private Akubra Hat fitting and dinner at The Pumphouse Bar and Restaurant the next evening.

After checking out key sites Purnululu National Park, Lake Argyle and the Ord River, the group headed to El Questro for three days of exploring, capped off with gourmet picnics, a cultural tour and swimming.

At Moonshine Gorge, staff arrived to find the swimming hole filled with Mercedes-Benz-themed inflatable pool rings for them to kick back and relax.

Organised by Destination, a Melbourne-based rewards firm, the trip is thought to have injected hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy.

The trip concluded with a stunning long-table dinner, complete with entertainment and twinkling lights at the Emma Gorge airstrip.

Destination’s Glenn Fitzgerald said the experience was world-class.

“We found the service and friendliness of everybody in Kununurra and El Questro to be outstanding — world-class and fitting of the environment,” he said.

The group also brought with them 10 Mercedes-Benz 4WDs to drive and photograph in rugged locations.

Kununurra Visitor Centre manager Vivienne McEvoy said the Kimberley’s burgeoning profile around Australia made it an attractive place for “staff rewards”.

“We certainly are a great destination for staff rewards — we are on everyone’s bucket list, so the more people we have visit us, the more people will hear about how wonderful the region is,” she said.

“Those big corporations will use the region again and will want to keep it a secret, but we all know once others see the images, the secret will be out.”