Just off the Great Western Highway near the village of Leura, where the World Heritage-listed national park meets the community, east meets the oldest continuous culture on earth in a yin and yang of harmony, kinship and respect.
The Blue Mountains’ koala population is growing and on the move – but you’re more likely to hear them than see them. And that’s where Blue Mountains locals can help.
Continuing a botanical legacy: Blue Mountains Botanic Garden.Nine years before Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson made their historic trek across the Blue Mountains in 1813, a naturalist named George Caley – curator of the colony’s first botanic gardens at Parramatta – forged a route along the northern rim of the Grose Valley, the first European to penetrate the mountains west of Sydney.
The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is Australia’s most accessible wilderness.Stretching over one million hectares, the region is an inspiring and diverse mix of rainforest, blue-hazed valleys, golden sandstone escarpments, canyons, tall forests and windswept heathlands. It is one of Australia’s iconic landscapes and has received National Landscape status in recognition of its world-class experiences of environmental and cultural significance.
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