Australia - New South Wales - Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains in New South Wales embrases 26 townships in an area of 1433 square kilometres. The townships are situated from 50 to 120 km west of Sydney and are within 1,000 square kilometres. The region was declared a World Heritage park in November 2000. It was nominated for its outstanding natural values, including the biodiversity of its plant and animal communities, its vegetation, which is dominated by Australia's unique eucalypts, and for the beauty of its natural landscapes.

The 'mountains', as they are commonly called, stood between the still fledgling settlement at Sydney and the agricultural and grazing country to the west. The conquest of the Blue Mountains opened up the vast grain growing and sheep grazing areas of New South Wales.

The Blue Mountains are so named because, from Sydney, they look blue. They are clad in vast forests of eucalypts (commonly called gum trees), which in the hot sun discharge a fine mist of eucalyptus oil from their leaves. The mist refracts light, which makes the haze look blue at a distance. That same oil makes the Australian bush as volatile as a pine forest in a bush (forest) fire. The vapour explodes, causing the fire to race through the canopy.

The Three Sisters, viewed from Echo Point at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, is a strong focal point for visitors. The rock formation rises steeply from the floor of the Jamison Valley just south of town. There are giant stairs at the Three Sisters which one can traverse, with an awesome view of the valley below.

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

The region offers a myrad of activities for the visitor from bush walking, to browsing for antiques, adventuring through lime stone caves, with the Jenolan Caves with its 40 kilometers of multi level passageways as a spectactular example, enjoying the native gardens, travelling on the zig zag railway, taking one of the many Eco Tours or just lazing about one of many tranquil townships dotted throughout the region.