- Filming of Eucalyptus has been postponed indefinitely. The story behind the story.
Bellingen, where the film Eucalyptus was planned to go before the cameras in early February 2005, is an idyllic Australian country town in New South Wales.
Located on the banks of a river, the town is home to artists and crafstmen and people seeking to drop out of city life and the unremitting urban rat race.
Set in a pleasant, attractive valley, Bellingen lies close to an optimistically-named Promised Land with calm, secluded swimming holes along a river called the Never Never.
Film site
It is, too, the film location for the already-released Danny Deckchair with Rhys Iffans (Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant) and Australian actress Miranda Otto.
It is the film location for the new Australian movie Eucalyptus with Australian actors Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman where a $6-million farmhouse set has been built just outside Bellingen town.
The film
Eucalyptus is based on the 1998 novel by Murray Bail set in an Australian eucalyptus plantation whose owner has decreed her daughter (Kidman) would only marry the man who could correctly identify every species of gum tree on the estate.
Crowe stars as the stranger who captivates the daughter by telling tales set in distant countries.
Directing the film is Jocelyn Moorhouse who first came to prominence with the Australian film Proof (1991) and has since directed such films as How to Make an American Quilt (1995) with Winona Ryder and Anne Bancroft, and A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Robards.
- On February 11, it was reported that shooting of the film had been postponed indefinitely. The reason given was that the script needed more work although the farmhouse set had already been built, shooting was expected to have begun in early February, and Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and director Jocelyn Moorhouse were said to have been ready to start filming what was generally accepted as Australia's first big movie production for 2005.
The town
Bellingen is located off the Pacific Highway on the New South Wales North Coast northwest of Nambucca Heads and southwest of Coffs Harbour.
The turnoff to Bellingen is located between the towns of Urunga and Raleigh.
Bellingen lies along the banks of the Berringer River. Two national parks - Dorrigo and Bellinger River - are close by. The Promised Land lies in the Berringer Valley some 10 kilometres north of town across the Never Never River. Pianist David Helfgott (played by Geoffrey Rush in the film Shine) and his wife Gillian are among a number of celebrities who live in the Promised Land.
Crowe's country property, Nana Glen, lies west of Coffs Harbour.
Getting to Bellingen
Probably the most convenient way to visit Bellingen is to go by car. Take the Pacific Highway which links Sydney and Brisbane and take the turnoff to Bellingen north of Urunga between Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Head.
For public transport, take the bus from either Coffs Harbour or Nambucca Heads.
The nearest train station is at Urunga.
