Maybe Tiboonda is a portal between life and death and Bundanyabba is the gate to hell. John can go to heaven (Bondi beach scenes) or hell (bleak outback). After a vision of hell, he decides it is not where he wants to be and waits for the next "train" to heaven.
We came to wreck everything and ruin your life. God sent us.
I, too, saw this as a metaphorical hell and heaven scenario. Tiboonda is purgatory. Charlie the bartender at the end of the movie seems to know exactly what happened to Grant with his coy facial expressions alone. It's as if he's some supernatural being; an overwatcher or something.
shareJohn Meillon played Charlie as a hard bitten bush publican. If you buy a drink you pay for it and sooner or later you will be back to drink some more.
What coy expression? He just looked cynical.
Bundanyabba was based on the mining city Broken Hill where the film was shot.
It's certainly about a man's descent into the heart of human darkness, so the concept of the Yabba as hell on earth is definitely a valid and credible one.
I've been chasing grace/ But grace ain't easy to find