Ridges that overlap into the hazy blue distance; chiseled sandstone outcrops; endless forests clinging somehow to bare rock; plunging waterfalls � the landscape of Blue Mountains National Park isn�t easily forgotten.
More than three million people come here each year, often just to stand and stare across this uplifting landscape. Others walk or cycle along the cliff-tops and in the valleys, following paths that were created for Victorian honeymooners, or discovered by Aboriginal hunters many thousands of years ago.
The park, which is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, protects an unusually diverse range of vegetation communities. There are rare and ancient plants, and isolated animal populations, tucked away in its deep gorges. This is a vast and special place.
Park highlights:
The view you get from Echo Point, with the famous Three Sisters in the foreground, and the Jamison Valley and Mount Solitary behind.
The Grand Canyon Track, which lets you experience the thrill of canyoning without even getting your feet wet.
The magnificent Blue Gum Forest, which was saved from destruction by bushwalkers in the 1930s.
The National Pass track, an amazing piece of early 20th-century engineering, with stone staircases cut into the cliffs.
Early explorers try, but fail, to cross the mountains:
What lies beyond the Blue Mountains? This was the question on everyone�s lips during the first 25 years of European colonisation in Australia. In 1788, the First British Fleet had arrived in Sydney Harbour, and since then the colony had grown rapidly. Settlers had taken land across the Cumberland Plain, up to the foothills of the Blue Mountains. But no one could go further: the mountains were impenetrable. Sydney was hemmed in, unable to expand to the west.
The colonial authorities had tried to cross the mountains several times, without success. By 1813 there was a long list of failed Blue Mountains explorers, including:
William Paterson, a soldier-explorer and enthusiastic botanist, who had set out to conquer the range in 1793. He�d followed the Grose River (as he named it) for some distance, but had to give up, contenting himself with the discovery of several new plants. He�d reported these to Joseph Banks, his mentor in England.
George Bass, who�d tried a different route in 1796. He�d ventured into the Lower Burragorang Valley, crossing the Wollondilly River and pushing westward to near Kanangra Plateau. He�d turned back here.
Matthew Everingham, an early settler in the Hawkesbury, who had attempted an unofficial exploration in 1795.
A number of escaped convicts, who had also tried �unofficial� explorations in search of paradise and freedom on the other side of the range.
John Wilson, a former convict and skilled bushman, who�d been employed by Governor Hunter in 1798 to guide a small party to the southwest.
Most of the party had turned back just after the Nepean River, but Wilson and two companions, Price and Roe, had carried on. They hadn�t found a way across the mountains, and had ended up around 30 km west of Mittagong. However, they�d collected the first lyrebird specimen, and had made the first written reports of the koala and wombat.
Francis Barrallier, who had been sent by Governor King to find a route through the mountains in 1802. He�d started around Picton and almost reached the Kanangra Plateau, coming within 25 kilometres of Jenolan Caves � further than any other white explorer. His trip had also been notable for the contact he�d made with the local Aboriginal tribes.
George Caley, a botanical collector for Joseph Banks, who had attempted to cross the mountains in 1804. After trying to negotiate his way through the maze of gorges west of Kurrajong, he had eventually climbed Mount Tomah and Mount Banks. Here he�d given up. The walls of the Grose River gorge were simply impassable, and it had seemed that the mountains� sandstone labyrinth went on forever. The journey was still a botanical success � Caley had discovered 30 new plants.
After the failure of so many expeditions, Governor King had declared that the task to find a way through the mountains must be given up.
Myles Dunphy proposes a national park:
While the property developers were rushing to please the holidaymakers, other people started making moves to protect the natural environment of the mountains. The first problem was to work out which areas of the Blue Mountains qualified as �wilderness� and could be set aside for protection in parks. Myles Dunphy, one of the state�s true environmental visionaries, took up the challenge.
For 10 years, Dunphy worked on a scheme to establish a national park in the Blue Mountains.
It was eventually submitted to the Surveyor General and Blue Mountains Shire Council in 1932. The proposal was this: that all Crown lands of the Greater Blue Mountains region should be set aside as Blue Mountains National Park. The park would preserve the mountains� outstanding bushland, for the protection of wildlife and the enjoyment of people.
Historic sites in and around the park:
Roads and railways
If you drive up to the mountains, chances are you�ll be taking the Great Western Highway. This mostly follows the route of the old Western Road, built by convicts after the successful expedition of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth.
Mitchell�s Bridge, built by convicts in 1832, is still used by traffic on the Great Western Highway. It descends from Mount Victoria.
Today, the Great Western Highway now avoids the convict-built Lennox Bridge � but make sure you don�t. It�s in Lapstone, on the eastern slopes of the mountains.
If you don�t take the Great Western Highway to the park, you�ll have to travel up the Bells Line of Road � a route with almost the same historical pedigree as the Western Road.
Colonial engineers had to accomplish many amazing feats to build the mountain railway line, but none were so impressive as the Zig Zag Railway, near Lithgow.
You�ll find disused railway lines and tunnels near Glenbrook. The Glenbrook Gorge Track is one of the best ways to see them.
Old mining sites
Yerranderie is an old silver and gold mining town just outside the southern outskirts of the national park. It had its heyday around the turn of the 20th century, and is now being restored. To get there, take the Old Oberon-Colong Stock Route.
Katoomba�s Scenic Railway used to haul coal up the cliff-face from the mines in the Jamison Valley below. Now it hauls visitors � and the ride�s an exhilarating one.
You�ll find the remains of historic mines at Blair Athol (near Mount Victoria), Narrowneck (south of Katoomba) and the Ruined Castle (near Mount Solitary, south of Katoomba)
Hartley Historic Site
Outside the national park, between Blackheath and Lithgow, you�ll find Hartley Historic Site. This little goldrush town had its peak around the 1860s, but now only has 18 residents. Hartley�s churches don�t hold regular services, and even the pub closed down in 1945. This is a quiet, charming and interesting place � it's been preserved, and is open to visitors.
Health resorts and artists� retreats:
It�s easy to recapture the Victorian �glory days�, when the Blue Mountains were a retreat for the rich, sick and creative. You can wander around the Hydro Majestic sanatorium (now a hotel), or wander around the Norman Lindsay Gallery.
But to really understand why all those wealthy Sydneysiders came up to recuperate in the fresh mountain air, why not check in to a modern-day health spa? There are plenty of options, from conventional health resorts to meditation centres and yoga schools (you�ll have no trouble finding these with a simple web search).
You could also join an art workshop.
Walking tracks and lookouts:
Practically every walking track in the Blue Mountains has a secret past. Some date back thousands of years, having provided Aboriginal people with access to hunting grounds, ceremonies and trading routes. Others have more recent origins in the tourist history of the mountains, often connecting those eternally popular lookout sites.
The walking tracks have been the subject of a Blue Mountains Walking Track Heritage Study, which details the heritage importance of the tracks and infrastructure.
Copies are available at the visitor centre, and you can check the Heritage Australia website to see a full database of the study. Blue Mountains National Park was awarded the National Trust Heritage Award for this work in 1999. Here are a few examples of the park's historic tracks:
Princes Rock Walk is arguably the first constructed track of its type in the Blue Mountains. It was built in 1868, for the visit of Queen Victoria�s son, Prince Alfred. The track has been in continuous use since then.
The National Pass walking track was constructed in the first decade of the 20th century. It�s an amazing piece of engineering, involving a series of stone staircases cut into the cliff-face.
The Federal Pass track was built in 1900 with money raised by local subscriptions. In 1908, the Furber Steps were added to it � an improvement of great engineering ingenuity. Tree ferns were planted along the track in 1930s, for the benefit of tourists.
The Dardanelles Pass walk was constructed in 1915, to commemorate a place in Gallipoli where Australian soldiers fought in World War One. The Giant Stairway, which connects the track with the Three Sisters, was started in 1918 but not finished until 1932. A shortage of funds delayed the work.
The track to the base of Govetts Leap involves a series of ladders going from one ledge to another down the cliff-face. An amazing engineering feat, it was built between 1898�1899.
The Grand Canyon Track is the only constructed walking track going through a �slot� canyon in the Blue Mountains. The track, which negotiates some of the most difficult terrain in the region, was built in 1906. You can still see some of the original steel handrails in places.
The track from Perrys Lookdown to Blue Gum Forest harks back to a great conservation triumph: the purchase of the Blue Gum Forest for conservation by several bushwalking clubs. The track was opened in 1947, and was paid for entirely by community donations. The funds were raised by the Rover Ramblers bushwalking club.
Pierces Pass is one of the few natural passes into the Grose Valley, and was probably a traditional Aboriginal route. In the Grose Valley there are deposits of chert, a hard rock which local Aboriginal people used for making tools. They would collect chert in the valley, and take it up Pierces Pass to a tool-working area on the cliff-tops.
