| Page Views: 210 Last Visit to Blue Mountains: July, 2004 | A National Park as a Back Garden by GrumpyScot - last update: Jul 16, 2004 |
Well, this is the back garden. The Blue Mountains are just west of Sydney, and are mainly National Park. To the early British settlers they were an impenetrable barrier, but eventually in 1813 three explorers (Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson) realised that the trick was to follow the ridges, not the valleys, and made their way to a lookout where they could see apparently boundless plains to the west. The track they followed became the road, and the existing road and railway still follow the same route today. To the north and south of this road lie several hundred kilometres of wilderness, as is clear from the air.
About 70,000 people live in the villages strung along the road, and many travel to Sydney for work each day. Back home again they can sit on the verandah and watch the cockatoos fly past, or the rosellas in the fruit trees, and it's like a holiday.
Altogether not bad. |
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| Pros: | "Quiet, wildlife, views" | | Cons: | "No sea or beaches (can't have everything), bushfire risk" | | In A Nutshell: | "A World Heritage treasure" |
 Comments for GrumpyScot about Blue Mountains | | | | |
ScotinFrance Fri Jul 30, 2004 17:33 UTC
Where are the seas, the lakes... Come over here!!! |
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