The australian way: outback action

Tourism NT and Tourism Western Australia have launched ‘The Australia Way,' a brand new touring route through the north western outback of Australia, following the cattle trail depicted in the new Baz Luhrmann film, Australia...

It's nothing new - films have inspired travellers to visit certain locations for years. Embarrassingly, I've done the ‘singalong' Salzburg Sound of Music tour and the Paris Da Vinci Code Tour...so how about jumping on the bandwagon and stepping onto the set of the most talked about film of this year?

Baz Luhrmann's £82 million epic, Australia, has been in the pipeline for so long it's hard to believe it's finally finished-but finished it is and it will be showing in UK cinemas on Boxing Day.

It tells the story of English aristocrat, played by Nicole Kidman and a cattle drover from the wrong side of the tracks, played by Hugh Jackman, who drive a 1,500 herd of cattle across Northern Australia.

Now, in a bid to cash in on the best publicity that the country has had in ages, two of Australia's state tourist boards have joined forces to create a touring route that allows visitors to travel through the stunning scenery that inspired the film.

The route starts in the harbour city of Darwin, meandering though desert landscapes and native bush for 1,875 kilometres and finishing in the pearling town of Broome. It takes 11 days to complete the trip.

During the journey, visitors can spend two nights in Darwin; two nights in World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park and a night in the town of Katherine before crossing the border into Western Australia to stay one night in Kununurra, two nights at El Questro Wilderness Park or Home Valley Station and overnight at Halls Creek, culminating in Broome.

Along the way, travellers will see the landscapes that provided the natural backdrops for the film, as well as meet local stockmen and cattle drovers who are the ‘real' cast of the movie.

The tourist boards hope that the new route will become the stuff of legend - a classic Outback Australian journey.

And the best thing about it? There's never any suggestion of a singalong.

Picture by absolutwade