Australian Scenery Star of Movie Australia

Destination: Australia

Movie: Australia (2008)

Stars: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackson and AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE

Rather than talk about this movie which was released last year, let me instead just suggest that if you have not seen it,   To comment and scurry down to BlockBuster or click over to Netflix and get a DVD.  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 this promotional video.

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. Open between 1 April and 31 October. Learn more at their web site.

Of course your base of operations will not be those Austalian 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).

This travel agency site explains the story of the cattle station, Carlton Hill, that was “borrowed” to become Faraway Downs in the movie, Australia.

Now, all that said, anybody want to talk about the pros and the cons of the script, acting, and directing of the move, Australia?

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Tags: Australia, BlockBuster, Darwin, Hugh Jackman, Kununurra, Movies, Netflix, Nicole Kidman