Australia: Living the Movie by Anthea Gerrie
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Far more potently than any travel brochure, the vast sweeping landscapes of Baz Luhrmann’s new Australia movie are bound to fuel midwinter dreams of a trip to that majestic land Down Under.
Bush fever, rather than a longing to see Sydney’s iconic skyline in person, is what this epic inspires, and who can blame the director for making his country’s rugged and iconic open spaces the stars of this homage to his homeland? While Sydney does indeed boast the world’s most exciting modern cityscape and Melbourne exudes a cosmopolitan cultural buzz bar none, it’s Australia’s natural wonders which thrill to the core - and which thanks to the film have been made more accessible to overseas visitors than ever before, as its furthest-flung nooks and crannies finally get digestibly packaged.
That’s just as well, since few Brits would easily find their way to the Kimberley, Kununurra and other locations which wowed Luhrmann but have yet to be discovered by the British public at large. The movie was largely set in the far frontiers of Western Australia and Northern Territory, where urban Australians themselves aspire to take adventure holidays, and which are thousands of miles from Sydney and Melbourne, the principal international gateways.
Perth, however, is also a gateway, and one several hours closer to Britain. It’s a jumping-off point - which given Australia’s vast distances tends to mean a domestic flight - for the majestic Kimberley, with its red rock table-top mountains, and the many other jaw-dropping delights of Western Australia. These include Broome, with its miles of crystal-white beaches, the mysterious Bungle Bungle range and the rugged Dampier Peninsula. Perth itself is a lively modern city, and wine-lovers may want to take a side-trip to excellent vineyards of nearby Margaret River. Souvenirs, as almost everywhere in Australia but particularly in the west, north and Red Centre, include spectacular and surprisingly affordable Aboriginal art.
Thanks to Australia the movie, a new tourist route has opened up all the way across the northwest from the Kimberley to Darwin, where the film draws to a climactic close. Northern Territory, which occupies a vast swathe of Outback, has hitherto been best known for Ayers Rock - and it has to be said that this is one of the great wonders of the world not to be missed, with world-class lodgings and activities, of which more later. But the film is bound to focus attention on what’s known as the Top End - not just Darwin but the Aboriginal homelands of Arnhem Land, and slightly tamed-for-tourists wonderland of Kakadu National Park.
I would like to say I enjoyed the same sense of wonderment as Nicole Kidman expressed when she flew over Kakadu in her spare time during filming, and if I did not, it is only because Northern Territory is so very wild and primeval that by the time I reached the park, Kakadu looked positively manicured beside some of the more rarefied experiences available out of Darwin. My own Nicole moment involved flying over an ancient escarpment in a two-seater plane to visit ancient cave drawings in Arnhem Land. The lodge-keeper who owned the airstrip and took the odd visitor who dropped in around the caves, then gave me an unforgettable boat ride around a waterlily-strewn billabong lined with an army of 10 million carousing birds.....I felt transported back to the beginning of time. Another day trip offered an introduction to the artists and rituals of the Tiwi Islands off Australia’s north coast, whose inhabitants cheerfully share their culture, show their sacred burial places, sell their exquisite art and offer a swim in their idyllic waterholes before the short flight back to the mainland.
But while these experiences involve a bit of research, packages incorporating Kakadu and Ayers Rock are ready to go and will knock the socks off those who have not already hit the wilder shores of Northern Territory. It’s better to savour one of these national parks than dilute the wonder by attempting both; Kakadu has crocodiles and cave drawings, Ayers Rock the great red mountain which it’s possible to tour with Aborigine guides or approach at dawn on a Harley-Davidson. The latter also has one of Australia’s most special resorts in the Sails in the Desert Hotel; even if you don’t stay there (and there are more affordable lodgings in the same complex), indulge in the hotel’s evocative Sounds of Silence dinner in the nearby desert, featuring a look at the night sky with a story-teller and astronomer and full silver service in the heart of the Outback.
The Whitsunday Islands of Queensland doubled for some of the Darwin locations in the movie, and indeed the whole top half of this north-eastern state is positively packed with wonders which deserve exploration even though they did not feature in the movie. Few could fail to be staggered by the beauty of the Daintree Rainforest, the mangrove-fringed beaches of Port Douglas, the underwater tropical fishfest of the Great Barrier Reef and the fascinating rainforest hinterland accessed via the Kuranda scenic railway. The Whitsundays, 74 islands surrounded by coral reefs, are a resort destination in their own right.
All the attractions of FNQ, as tropical Far North Queensland is chirpily referred to by the Aussies from cooler climes who regard it as their prime sun’n’fun playground, are easily accessed by foreign travellers via a fourth international gateway, Cairns (not so interesting in its own right), and can logically be combined with a visit to Darwin and Kakadu.
While the southeast tip of Australia is known mainly for its cities and vineyards, there’s a lot more to New South Wales than Sydney itself and the capital Canberra. The Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley wine region are within an easy drive of Sydney, and for real bushwhackers there are opal mines and stunning lunar landscapes further afield - take Broken Hill as a starting point.
Victoria, home of Australia’s most cosmopolitan and interesting city, Melbourne (less spectacular than brashly beautiful Sydney, but a much more interesting dining, shopping and art scene), also has a bit of bush, and besides that the beauty of the Great Ocean Road and Philip Island, with its penguins and koalas.
But the one state which has all the majesty and wild beauty of the movie locations, yet is inexplicably overlooked by many visitors, is South Australia. It has fantastic Outback, kangaroos and other native wildlife galore, amazing beaches and the country’s finest vineyards. And while it was not featured in the movie, South Australia is also home to the experience which inspired Lurhmann’s movie in the first place - the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive, an event on such a grand scale it is only organised every few years.
The next go-round, lasting five weeks and involving 500 head of cattle and 120 riders on horseback, will be in 2010. Those who can’t spare that kind of time - or can’t wait - can enjoy a three-day droving experience in the Flinders region, involving sleeping under the stars in a “swag” and a night at Australia’s most iconic Outback hotel, the Prairie. Mini-cattle drives are also available in other states with a fair swathe of bush, including New South Wales.
Personally, on my own recent bush exploration of South Australia I was happy to sit on a veranda by the creek at Portee Station, a fabulously comfortable Victorian homestead, and gaze on thousands of sheep coloured pink by the red earth through a glass of excellent chilled local plonk. A wombat safari at dusk, a thrilling sunset and dinner under the stars were all laid on for just the two of us.
Although we had both done Outback and bush sunsets before as seasoned Antipodean travellers, Kidman’s character discovering the country for the first time couldn’t have been an iota more thrilled than us old Australia hands. The lucky country gets you like that every time.