Until recently the Top End, as the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia is known locally, was the preserve of those who were prepared to get down and dirty. However gradually more luxurious options are becoming available. Its timely too because the release of Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia will have three stars: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and the Kimberley landscape.

Wet Season, Kimberleys

The Kimberley region stretches from a few hundred kilometres inland from Broome in the west to Kununurra at the eastern end of the Gibb River Road. The GBR is best road through the Kimberley region: which makes it 4WD only at the best of times and closed to visitors during the Wet (November to April).
Your luxury options are limited for most of the route but as you near the Kununurrua end of the route you are suddenly spoilt for choice.

Home Valley, Gibb River Road
Is run by the local Indigenous Land Corporation and to be frank don’t book if you want smooth, 5-star luxury the whole way. However if you want to combine stunning natural beauty, fantastic wild life and you actually want to interact with the real locals, the Aborigines then this one is for you.

Home Valley Horse and Stockman

The Home Valley’s accommodation ranges from camping and up but luxury option is to choose one of the eight “Grass Hut” bungalows are set to take advantage of stunning views over the Bindoola Creek River. The open sided restaurant is good too and of course features the local beef. Appropriately named the Dusty Bar & Grill is the epicentre for night time entertainment. Here guests can mingle with the Station’s local wildlife up close, including snakes and our resident kangaroo. Keep an eye out for the pool playing dog too. The after dinner program includes local entertainers playing country music and storytelling around the camp fire.

Dusty Bar, Home Valley

Located west of the notorious Pentecost River visiting Home Valley is open year around (except December) - making it one of the only accommodation options for experiencing the remote Kimberleys during the Wet, though you will have to fly from Kununurrua.

El Questro Homestead

El Questro Homestead

Is the 5-star branch of the El Questro Station. Run by Voyages Hotels & Resorts a recent $1.9 million renovation has replaced the Homestead’s Asian-influenced decor with a more rustic Australian feel. Updated balcony bathrooms feature in several of the exclusive rooms The egg-shaped stone tubs and double-headed showers make washing off the day’s dust a joy. With just six rooms the Homestead is an exclusive retreat cantilevered over the magnificent Chamberlain Gorge. Visitors are encouraged to choose from a selection of dining locations, from a private cliff top to the Homestead’s spacious verandas, but almost always under a canopy of stars.

Decorated with modern pieces set against rustic authentic Australian furnishings, the Homestead really is an oasis from which to appreciate the untamed beauty of the Kimberley. Surrounded by lush tropical gardens, the Homestead has a swimming pool and tennis court, for the exclusive use of Homestead guests.

Chamberlain Suite, El Questro

The premier suite is the Chamberlain Suite which is cantilevered over the Chamberlain Gorge, the Chamberlain Suite offers panoramic views and features a wrap-around veranda with floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the magnificent sunset and sunrise over the gorge.

If you want to see some of the locations where Australia, the movie was filmed then sign up for The Big Day Out: a full-day tour which loops around the spectacular cockburn Ranges. Closer to home the Zebedee Springs is a tropical oasis lush with palms and padanus to which Homestead guests an arragne private visits. Emma Gorge with it bridal-veil falls is a short and popular hike.

Some movies are good for country’s tourism industry and we predict that Baz Luhrmann’s new movie, Australia should do wonders for Australia’s Top End tourism industry.

Nicole Kidman in Australia

The Australia’s Tropical Far North is a truely amazing wilderness but off the radar for most luxury destination tourists. We think Luhrmann’s Australia may just change that.

Australia movie is set around a fictional cattle station, which Nicole Kidman’s character has inherited. Aristocratic Nicole Kidman descends on rough colonial Australia and of course falls for the local bad boy (Hugh Jackman). The action includes the 1942 Japanese air raids on Darwin as well as massive cattle drive across the Northern Territory of Australia. Although the advance publicity includes some eye-catching pics of the stars getting hot and steamy, the real star of the show will no doubt be the beautiful Australian landscape.

Filmed on location the cast spent months in remote northern Australia at locations that included the little northern Queensland town of Bowen, standing in for 1940’s Darwin and the majestic Kimberley region.

Far Northern Queensland and Northern Territory

Normanton, Gulf Country, Northern Queensland

The dilemna of course, for the luxury traveller, is how to see all this beauty without having to actually rough it? Typically you have had to have been prepared to rough it a bit even if you take to the air to cover the vast distances involved. Traditional luxury lodgings include items such as pools, air-conditioning and gourmet food. This involves an infra-structure that just not exist in most of outback Australia. Sure you can often get air-conditioning - its practically a necessity with the temperatures - but the noisy diesel generator is not pleasent to be around, or good for the environment.

There are some solutions: the magnificent Kimberley coast can only reached by cruise ship, and the addition of a helicopter will get the visitor to areas which would take literally weeks of hard travel overland. We reviewed luxury cruising in the Kimberleys previously but obviously it restricts you to the coast: beautiful though that it is.

A number of working properties now offer luxury “ranch” stays, such as Wrotham Park These stations are large enough to be self-contained anyway so the addition of a handful of larger guest rooms isn’t so much of a problem. These luxury station stays tend to be an after thought: the cattle came first, the tourists are a second string of income so the locations are not always picked for their exotic locale. Cattle country is basically dry country - the cattle can’t survive tropical wetlands. However tropical wetlands attract amazing wildlife, particularly birds and also, of course tourists.
Kimberleys and Broome

Boab Tree, near Derby, Kimberleys

A new development in Australia’s Top End Tourism is of eco-resorts which try to adopt an environmentally light foot-print to their usually purpose built cabins or safari tents generally in extremely remote areas. The key is to get the electricity right: diesel generators are noisy and not environmentally sensitive, not to mention expensive to run. Solar power is fantastic but will not run air-conditioning, though good for hot water and lighting.

Here’s a preview of what we are looking forward to see in Australia Movie:

Photo Credits: Emigrating to Australia

Actress Nicole Kidman has finally purchased in California again, buying a home for an undisclosed price in the Beverly Hills PO district. Mr. Big Time caught the exclusive, but he didn’t mention Kidman’s hubby, country crooner Keith Urban as being one of the purchasers. We’re not sure if they purchased it together or whether this was Kidman’s investment.

The 5 befroom, 4 1/4 bath home was listed at $4,795,000. At 4,141 square feet, according to listing information, the home should be plenty big to hold the couple and their new baby daughter, and Kidman’s children with Tom Cruise. The listing also notes a full-floor master suite with walk-in closets, fancypants bathroom, and a sitting area/office. There’s a pool, of course, outdoor dining, a play area and a piece of land across the street, too.

From the pics, it appears that the top floor master suite also has a walk-out balcony that overlooks the pool. It also has a fireplace in the middle of the room, separating the sleeping area from the office area.

There are lots of shelves and vases in the master bedroom, and on the stair landing outside the bedroom. The person that decorated really loved vases. Lots and lots of oddly-shaped vases.

One room in the pics looks like it could be an office. It has a desk and a huge bookshelf. We love having room for our books, but there’s something about that shelf that is overpowering the room. Maybe it’s the color contrast between it and the wall. Not sure.

The kitchen, with its cabinets on spindly little legs, has a total retro feel to it. Not sure if we like - can’t decide. It’s a nice house overall, but could use some updates here and there.

The listing has closed, but you can see a few of the pictures in our gallery.