Kununurra: Australia

Kununurra is the self-styled capital of the Kimberleys and more recently famous as one of the key locations for Baz Luhrmann's film "Australia" movie. Kununurra is normally a fairly quiet, neat town built in the 1950's to service the Ord River Irrigation scheme. Its a pleasant stop on the sealed road from Darwin (825 kilometres) to Perth (3247 kilometers) - or its the the jumping off point for the unsealed Gibb River Road.

It is still very much outback. After local protests, the world-wide premier of Australia Movie is being held in Kununurra along with Sydney, Bowen and Darwin, other film locations. The reason that Kununurra was originally overlooked? Well the town has only one cinema: the open air Kununurra Picture Gardens which date from the early 1960's. This is an open-air cinema so the red carpet had to go over the red dirt! The odds were against them too as November is the Wet season in Kununurra.

The outback town of Kununurra is in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and lies close to the Northern Territory border and is closer to Darwin (825 kilometres), capital of the Northern Territory, than it is to Perth (3247 kilometres), capital of Western Australia. The town is home to around 6000 permanent inhabitants, although apparently when the Australia movie crew came to town every bed was taken both in and out of town. It can get busy in the peak tourist season (May - September) and you may even want to book especially during local school holidays.

Kununurra was built to house the builders of the Ord River scheme which saw the damming of the river and the creation of Lake Argyle. The scheme uses the heavy rains which fall during the wet season (October - April) to bring life to the desert. Almost anything can be grown in the rich soils and crops include mangoes, sugar cane and even Boab (the unusual tree has an editable root). The remoteness of the area has meant that development has been slow.

Kununurra is a tourist town, most towns are in this remote part of the world. It is part of the scenic Savannah Way which starts in Cairns over 3000 kilometers to the east and finishes another 1550 kilometres to the west via the sealed Highway One. Tourists with 4WD's are often heading to the notorious Gibb River Road. The compact town centre boasts everything from 4WD outfitters, to a District hospital to a Telecentre (government provided cheap Internet access).

Accommodation options in town include everything from camp grounds to backpackers to luxury lodges such as the close by (well 50 kilometers or so) El Questro Lodge Even if you don't have the cash for the luxury option you can can camp at El Questro for a reasonable fee and although the road is dirt, in the dry season a conventional vehicle should have no problem making the trip.

The attractions of the area include sampling the local produce at farms and cruising on on the pretty Lily Creek Lagoon.

Kununurra is often described as the jumping off town to the famous Bungle Bungle National Park. Well only in Australia - its 650 kilometers by road to the centre of the park - so a day tour is NOT recommended - though are available. Instead take to the air and view the lake (choose a float plane and the pilot skim the surface in the right weather conditions), the Bungle Bungles and the Argyle Diamond Mine. The photos in this article were all taken from a float plane on an early morning flight.