Australia: The Blue Mountains and Wolgan Valley Beyond Jul 21st 2013, 23:45
It’s not hard to cross Australia's Blue Mountains today. Indeed, it’s just a three-hour drive from Sydney to Katoomba, the gateway town to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can stand at Echo Point in Katoomba and look out over the steep sides of the Jamison Valley at the gold sandstone fronts of the mountains glimmering out through the dense vegetation that clings to them.
The Blue Mountains today are a scenic highlight of New South Wales comprised of eight parklands and a popular weekend spot for Sydney-siders. But in 1813, the mountains were a deadly impenetrable barrier closing Sydney off from the way west. This year is the bicentennial of when Gregory Blaxland led his band out from Sydney on what would become the first crossing of the mountains.
It’s only fitting that Scenic World is at the center of Katoomba tourism, because it was the attraction’s founder, Harry Hammon, who first brought tourism to the area. Indeed, tourism fits perfectly over the industrial footprint of the area’s coal mining era that was coming to a close. In the 1920s, Hammon purchased much of the area and began turning it into an attraction. It was popular with honeymooners who rode “Nellie,” the world’s steepest railway car at 52 degrees. The tracks originally used to haul coal out of the valley now carry trains full of tourists. Last April the latest version of the train was installed and the ride is still a thriller.
Passengers ride inside glass-roofed carriages that seem to leap from a high cliff before plummeting to the valley floor below. These carriages offer an expansive view of the rainforest. On the valley floor, Scenic World maintains three different boardwalk trails that offer walks of 10, 30 and 50 minutes in length. The walks are pleasant under the rainforest canopy and there’s plenty of signage to tell you what you’re looking at, whether it’s a eucalypt or a wild sassafras tree. On one trail you can peer into a coal shaft that’s only the mouth of a 60-mile network of tunnels.
While in Katoomba guests can visit the Waradah Aboriginal Centre, a showcase of Aboriginal culture. This place offers indigenous art and handicrafts in a two-story shop that also runs 20-minute performances nine times a day of indigenous dances. These are followed by a short lecture, a Didgeridoo performance and an audience interaction performance.
The sister properties of Lilianfels and Echoes are located on a bluff overlooking the valley. Lilianfels, a one-time Orient Express property, is the former residence of New South Wales Chief Justice Sir Frederick Darley, dating back to 1889. It features 85 rooms and suites, two restaurants, a lobby lounge, bar, outdoor pool, indoor heated pool, tennis court and a spa all with an eagle’s view of the Jamison Valley.
Adjacent to Lilianfels, the 14-suite Echoes is the former retreat for Australian writer Thomas Keneally. Echoes Restaurant offers the ultimate way to view the scenic grandeur of the mountains as you can accompany the experience with a meal from the Australian Hotel Association’s best regional restaurant in Australia in 2012.
A few hours drive on the Great Western Highway brings you to Wolgan Valley. The feeling that you are entering a lost world begins the experience as you drive down into the canyon on a winding road with wonderful views. Wolgan Valley has the feel of a luxury safari resort on an African game reserve. But the “Big Five” here comes in the form of the kangaroo, wombat, wedge tailed eagle, platypus and dingo.
Add to that one singular tree, the Wollemi Pine, which is in its own solitary way more interesting than any animal in the park. In 1994 a small grove of these trees was found in a remote canyon in the Blue Mountains. The tree was thought to have gone extinct two million years ago. Before the grove was found, the only record of the species was in fossils. Now botanists hope to save the species whose leaves inspired the logo of the Wolgan Valley Resort and you can visit this “dinosaur tree” on game drives from the hotel.
The resort itself opened in 2009 on a 4,000-acre reserve located between two national parks. It has 40 suites designed to recall the homesteads that housed this area’s pioneers, except that these homestead suites each come with a pool and a sprawling multi-room layout. A real homestead from 1832 is also on the property and is open for guests to explore either on tours or on their own. An Aboriginal tour is also offered, but the signature experience comes with the safaris that go out where the wildlife, mostly gray kangaroos (including five albinos) can be seen.
The spa resort, located within its own private conservation and nature reserve, is a best practice laboratory. Even the guides are actual scientists who support their research by leading tours. When Emirates built the $125 million project on the former cattle station, it planted thousands of native trees indigenous to the area, including the Wollemi Pine. Other activities at the resort include guided wildlife walks, mountain bike and horseback tours, stargazing and guided photographic excursions.
This year Australia is celebrating the bicentenary of Blaxland and the other explorers that opened up the Blue Mountains. It might be a good time for your clients to discover them for themselves, with a little help from you.
James Ruggia is executive editor covering Pacific Asia and Europe for TravelPulse.com.
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