Bryan Brown and the red, red land.

If there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear from talking to Bryan Brown, it’s that this bloke is a Storyteller.

Whether acting on film, stage, producing or presenting his new travel documentary, he just loves a yarn.

Which is why he and wife Rachel Ward jumped at the opportunity to front BBC Knowledge’s Free Rein, in which they travel across the Kimberleys.

Together they encounter wild horses, breathtaking vistas, crocodiles, rodeos, Indigenous Australians, and Bush Poetry.

“The highlight is getting away, getting out and not being distracted all the time. Being able to just float, daydream, wander, experience life at a leisurely pace,” says Brown.

“Around that is being able to visit what goes on out there whether it’s looking for crocs, going to rodeos, meet people who run Aboriginal communities. All those things are opportunities to examine and explore and talk about. But the great thing is just to be at ease, be reflective and look up at night and see the stars and wake up in the morning beside a river with a bit of bacon and eggs. That is pretty bloody attractive.”

The Kimberley is one of the harshest, most unforgiving and extreme parts of the Australian continent. Three times the size of England, its arid deserts, majestic plateau and croc-infested rivers are home to about 30,000 settlers, who proudly claim it as Australia’s ‘last frontier’.

“I was in New York the other day and I was just about going insane that it was peak hour on every road every minute of the day. I remember thinking at one stage ‘Gee I wish I was in the Kimberleys.’

“The opportunity to get away from people is just so attractive and we’ve got the country you can do it in.”

The documentary, produced and directed by John Stainton for Lonely Planet, puts Brown and Ward on horseback, a place both feel comfortable enough for cameras to catch them in unguarded moments.

“Rachel absolutely loves horses. She’d spend her life on horseback if she could. She’d want to be Annie Oakley or some bloody thing,” he says.

“She’s been riding in Argentina, and we both went riding in Banff National Park in Canada for 5 days and 5 nights under the stars. That area of it allows us to be comfortable. So I guess if you’re feeling good there’s a bit of banter that goes on.”

Brown is relaxed about having his relationship with Ward filmed. The dodo shows the couple’s relationship in ways neither has allowed before. Having met on The Thorn Birds, both are captured being relaxed, robust, matesy and devoted.

“I guess that’s probably what comes out of it. But that’s fine. I don’t have any problem with any of that,” he says.

“But you don’t know what you’re going to make. When you go away on something like that there’s no template for it so you just do it like it is.

“We’re going to be who we are and have fun and stuff.”

“We never said ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’”

They trek through King River Valley, Cockburn Range, visit Digger’s Rest Station, assist with a cattle muster, go toad-busting, croc-catching and marvel at Brumby herds from a helicopter.

Brown says despite some old-fashioned ways by locals, the region is alive with spirit.

“It is a hard life out there. When you suddenly have a lame horse and you’re 50km from anybody and somebody has to ride back and get another horse –all those things you have to deal with,” he says.

“There’s a place where they train Aboriginal kids in muster and they take other people on musters. It’s fabulous that that goes on.

“It was interesting going into an Aboriginal community where a lovely old man named Jack looks after people who live there, and to watch it operate was really positive. You tend to think that everything to do with Aboriginal communities is desperate. But to go into one where people live with dignity and people work was very positive, and needing to be heard.”

Even in far-flung, inhospitable corners of the country, Brown is recognised by locals -a testament to his long career. When his wife signs him up to participate in a rodeo ride for 8 seconds, his ‘hero’ status is under threat.

But how will city viewers take to a form of entertainment that has come under criticism from animal welfare advocates?

“There was nothing where I saw people mistreating animals. Those boys who ride horses, boy do they know how to look after a horse. They know everything about its feet, cleaning it, those horses are incredibly important to them,” Brown insists.

“A lot of the time people comment on areas that they actually know nothing about. In looking at those horses and bulls they were well looked after. As a person who has been around horses a long time, horses are cheeky buggers. They like to have fun with you.

“I didn’t see any signs of mistreatment in any way or form.

“They love ‘em so they look after their horses. A damn sight better than we look after things in the city.”

But his performance skills come to the fore when he meets some locals who create an intrinsic Australian art-form, Bush Poetry.

“They don’t say too much but once they do start talking they’re funny bastards and they’re wise old buggers too. They’ve seen it all, you can’t pull any wool over their eyes. They can see through the bullshit,” he laughs.

“Bush poetry is a big part of the outback. The early days of The Bulletin were full of Banjo Patterson’s poetry.

“It’s like painters. If you travel around Australia, people paint. I went to Broken Hill when I was doing A Town Like Alice and in this rough town of people who went a mine underground, almost every third shop was a gallery. People painted because in front of them were colours, beauty and stuff that they just wanted to try and express.”

At the moment the documentary is a one-off for Lonely Planet, but while he is looking at producing two films -one in Paris, and the other in Shanghai- Brown is keen for more horse adventures.

“It’s probably a bit of a test to see whether we like it, they like it, whether audiences are interested in it. If so then maybe we’ll talk about doing that type of thing in other places around the world on horseback,” he says.

“There are some fantastic old postal routes around the world that once used to be delivered on horseback. There’s the Zinc Trail from Mexico to Texas that’s been done on horseback. There are lots of places where horses took you into cultures that were inaccessible.”

But for now he’s happy just being an Aussie storyteller and plans to keep doing what he’s famous for.

“A bit of this and a bit of that until I die,” he says. “I guess playing Australian characters and tellin’ stories and wandering around the world. About the same as I’ve always done.”

Free Rein premieres 8:30pm Wednesday on BBC Knowledge.