Destination: Australia
Movie: Australia (2008)
Stars: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackson and AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE
Rather than talk about this movie which was released in 2008, let me instead just suggest that if you have not seen it, scurry down to BlockBuster [a dated reference in2018!] or click over to Netflix. If this movie does not put Australia on your travel list, you just are not paying attention to that gorgeous scenery. Baz Luhrmann manages to make a beautiful landscape even more alluring.
We can go have a beer and discuss Luhrmann’s techniques later, but for now, let’s concentrate on where the heck all that beautiful stuff is to be found. And if we are lucky travelers, we will get to go on location in Australia.
Western Australia and the Kununurra Visitor Center are ready to welcome you to scenes from the movie Australia. They will tell you about the Mirima National Park, a tiny wonderland of canyons, waterfalls and rock formations practically inside the town of Kununurra.
The Kimberley Range, 422,000 sq. km. of more eye-popping scenery can be seen in a promotional video on You Tube.
The El Questro Wilderness Park, privately owned, stretches over a mind boggling million acres of land that was once a cattle station. (Take THAT, Texas ranchers!) If you want to stay in a tented cabin or a bungalow in one of the scenic areas near where the movie was filmed, it will set you back about $220 to $550 dollars for four people. [Those 2009 prices have changed a bit. In 2018 it will set you back $2,029 to $3,089 per night–but that does include meals. Guess you should have gone in 2009.] Open between 1 April and end of October. Learn more at their website, www.elquestro.com.au/
Of course your base of operations will not be those Australian cities you are more or less familiar with like Sydney or Melbourne. Oh, no. We are talking the far north and west, here. Darwin, the Northern Territories, the town that starred in the movie, will serve as an operational base. (If you have journeyed to the iconic Ayers Rock in Australia, you know Darwin).