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‘Travel plans cancelled? Here’s how I’m overcoming the disappointment’

May 02, 2020

The Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia featured in the film 'Red Dog' and has May looking forward to visiting when the travel bans are lifted. Source: Getty Images

Like many others my holiday plans for the year have been cancelled. None of us know when, or if, we will be able to resume interstate or overseas travel. At this point, I would be quite content with a day trip exploring a country town only an hours’ drive away, wouldn’t you?

To combat my disappointment that all plans have ‘gone out the window’ I’ve become the consummate armchair traveller. With a pot of tea and a biscuit I have blended my love of different landscapes with my interest in movies, particularly Australian movies.

I was a teenager in the 1970s when the so-called Australian Film Renaissance became a big deal with a resurgence in popularity of Australian cinema around the world. This movie revival started in 1971 with movies such as Stork and Walkabout and lasted until the late-’80s. The era also marked the emergence of Ozploitation, a film genre characterised by the exploitation of colloquial Australian culture, as in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Alvin Purple and Don’s Party.

I thought I would share my Top 5 favourite Australian movies that incorporate the beauty and the essence of the Australian landscape. That way we could all participate in some armchair travel during these troubling times. As AA Patawaran once said: “Every story is a ride to some place and time other than here and now. Buried in an armchair, reclined on a couch, prostrate on your bed, or glued to your desk, you can go places and travel through time”.

Red Dog (2011) and prequel, Blue Dog (2016)

In Dampier, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, there’s a statue of a dog, a red kelpie, that was much loved by locals for its hitch-hiking antics and other adventures during the 1970s. British novelist Louis de Bernieres, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin sighted the statue during an Australian holiday, which led to Red’s story becoming the book, Red Dog.

The red soil of the Pilbara and all its vastness is magnificent. I couldn’t live there though I’d love to visit — in winter. The Aussie soundtrack will get your feet moving too.

The Man From Snowy River (1982)

Based on the poem of the same name by Banjo Paterson a grizzled yank in the form of Kirk Douglas performed alongside a young Sigrid Thornton, Tom Burlinson with Jack Thompson in the role of Clancy of the Overflow. It doesn’t matter how pretty Miss Thornton was as a lass, the spectacular views of the Victorian High Country was the hero of this movie.

Top End Wedding (2019)

Starring Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee this is a fun little movie highlighting tropical suburban Darwin, Katherine Gorge and Jabiru in the Northern Territory and the Tiwi Islands off the Darwin coastline. The Northern Territory Government actually used parts of this film as a tourism campaign because the scenery was just so spectacular. The Tiwi Islands are on my ‘Must Do’ travel list once coronavirus, self-isolation and travel restrictions are all over.

Tracks (2013)

In 1977 Australian Robyn Davidson set out on a 2,700-kilometre trek across Western Australia, starting at Alice Springs and finishing at the Indian Ocean, with only four camels and a dog for company. The deserts of Western Australia were far too hot and inhospitable so the portrayal of the desert scenes were completed west of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Brutal.

The Sum of Us (1994)

A young Russell Crowe plays Jack Thompson’s son — a bizarre thought in itself. Young Russell is gay and Jack is a widower, and both are looking for love. Filmed primarily in Balmain, then considered working class Sydney (and now out of the realm of most of us) this movie has some great shots of the city, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Darling Harbour in its infancy, and the Harold Park Raceway. It’s a fun little story with locations I know well.