Painting/treating eucalyptus wood

longwalks1

We've got a garden bench and its made from Eucalyptus wood, i was going to stain it but was told not to and to use a gel based stain and to wipe it on and not paint it on, is this right?

And can anyone recommend a good stain/treatment for the bench to protect it and freshen it up please?

tori.k

Its a greasy wood so really you want to stick with teak oil twice yearly to slow down how fast it silvers out