Katoomba

Locals say the mountains have a healing effect. I’ve lived here 20 years and totally agree with that. Blackheath, Leura and Mt Victoria also recommended (Steam Train weekend in Mt Victoria at the end of May).

Plus a Phenomonen – No drive through restaurants in the Upper Mountains (roughly Springwood to Mt Victoria) and Subway is the only fast food place. Slowing down the the key here.

Best rapelling (abseiling in Australian lingo) I’ve ever done! The forest smells of eucalyptus, which also makes the mountains appear blue!

The Blue Mountains have some of the best scenery available in Australia and they’re only a short drive from Sydney.

We stayed in Katoomba in ’95 and it was a pretty quiet place but get up early and go see the three sisters in the dawn mists – amazing.

I went to Katoomba & Jameson Valley on a solo daytrip during my visit to Sydney in 2000. The Valley is utterly gorgeous and unlike anywhere I’ve been before — the geology of the rockies, the scale of the appalacians, and the flora of the tropics, with a few wallabees thrown in for flavor!