Forget Hugh Jackman, move over Nicole Kidman. The real star of Baz Luhrmann’'s Australia is the Kimberly, a rough and rugged, but breathtakingly beautiful place, with jagged mountain ranges, spectacular gorges, beautiful waterfalls, serene billabongs, ancient rock- art galleries and wild uninhabited wilderness.
Luhrmann may have managed to transform the sleepy North Queensland town of Bowen into World War II-era Darwin, a harbour-side Sydney mansion into Darwin's Government House, and countless Fox Studios sound stages into various interior sets, but when it came to capturing the wild and magnificent outback only the real Kimberley would do.
Home Valley Station
In a tale that have become the stuff of local legend, Luhrmann stood atop a small hill beside the Gibb River Road, one of the outback's most punishing 4WD tracks, looked out over the stunning red ramparts of the Cockburn Range and across the vast savannah studded by gnarly boab trees and realised he had found the perfect location for his film. It's now been renamed Luhrmann's Lookout, and is a must-stop spot on the way to Home Valley Station, a brand-new resort on a huge working cattle farm.
The resort runs an Australia movie tour, where you can visit all the sites on the station that inspired Baz Luhrmann, including Jackman's Jump-up and Kidman's Krossing, but the show stopper is the stunning Cockburn Range. It's this range that forms the backdrop to the dramatic cattle muster scenes in the movie, which you can recreate on a three-hour trail ride from the resort.
There's a range of accommodation, from the sleek and stylish Grass Castle bungalows (named after Mary Durack's classic tale of Kimberley pioneers,
Kings in Grass Castles) overlooking the boab-lined Bindoola Creek, motel-style guesthouse rooms in the old stockman's quarters, and sand castle eco-tents with a raised wooden floor and queen-sized bed. Otherwise, you can set up your own camp at one of the powered sites or roll out your swag beside the Pentecost River, 4km from the homestead, where crocodiles sun themselves on the banks and sharks cruise the water.
El Questro
While the best view of the Cockburn Range might be from the lookouts at Home Valley, they actually belong to the neighbours, El Questro, just across the Pentecost River, and another filming location. Like Home Valley, the working cattle farm also offers a range of accommodation to suit all budgets. Top of the range is the very exclusive El Questro Homestead, where you'll pay more than $2000 a night to stay in one of the suites perched on the cliffs edge overlooking the Chamberlain River. They were booked out when Nicole tried to secure a room there for her and husband Keith Urban during filming.
Hugh Jackman had much better luck at Emma Gorge Resort, a cluster of luxury timber-floored tents, each with their own ensuite, built around a swimming pool and an open-air restaurant in the red shadow of the Cockburn's rocky ramparts. Hugh and his family stayed here after filming wrapped up for a few days of R&R, no doubt spending their days floating in the serene waterhole in Emma Gorge, a beautiful swimming hole surround by towering 120m-high red rock walls, over which spills Emma Falls from high above.
It's just one of many beautiful swimming holes on the property. Another is Zebedee Thermal Springs, still part of El Questro, but in another section of the 400,000-hectare wilderness park. These naturally warm pools, hidden among sheer cliffs and ancient Livingstonia palms are perfect for a long soak. And if you are lucky enough to get them all to yourself, they are, indeed, a magical place where butterflies flit through the leaves and the real world seems very far away.
Faraway Downs
The Faraway Downs homestead, on the massive cattle station inherited by Kidman's character in the film, was just a movie set, but it was built and filmed on the very real Carlton Hill Station, owned by the Packer family. It's not available for public access (although there are unconfirmed reports that the set will be rebuilt in Kununurra), but you can stay at neighbouring Macka's Barra Camp (just 4km from Carlton Hill) and enjoy the same awe-inspiring scenery. There's a range of accommodation, from rustic through to newer hard-floored safari-style tents. If you like to fish, you'll love this place.
Diggers Rest Station
Ninety cast and crew of
Australia spent 21 days at nearby Diggers Rest Station filming the amazing boab trees that grow on the property, and you can find many of the stars signatures on the walls of the homestead. There's a choice of bunkhouse or bush hut accommodation (half tent/half hut) and activities include horse riding and barramundi fishing.
For more information please visit
More information
Home Valley: www.homevalley.com.au
El Questro: www.voyages.com.au
Macka's Barra Camp: www.mackasbarra.com.au
Digger's Rest Station: www.diggersreststation.com.au
The Kimberley: www.westernaustralia.com
More information on Australia locations ... visit travelaustralia.ninemsn.com.au
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