The Blue Mountains region of NSW offers parks, camp sites and wilderness so untouched by city living, it's hard to believe Sydney is less than two hours drive away. There are few places in the world where pristine landscape can be found so close to a major city, and even fewer reasons why anybody living in or visiting Sydney should miss out on the wonders of the Blue Mountains.
The national park areas span the Great Dividing Range from Glenbrook across mountains, escarpment, waterways, small towns and virgin wilderness to Oberon and Lithgow. They boast some of the prettiest camp sites you'll find in the State. Whether you're looking for an opportunity to introduce your children to nature, explore life on a farm, soak up the peace and quiet or get some mud on the four-wheel drive you'll find plenty of choices.
The options get wilder the deeper you drive into the mountains. Low mountain towns like Lapstone and Glenbrook are perfect settings for relaxed camping, light day walks and child-friendly terrain.
Low on the range, Glenbrook's mild climate allows year-round camping. Look out for signs to Euroka, a well-serviced and attractive camp site set on a grassy flat in open bushland. It's the perfect family holiday spot. You can book a site through the National Parks office in Richmond and set up a base with access to toilets and water while making short day trips along gentle, marked trails to discover animals, streams and caves. Highlights at Euroka include Red Hands Cave, where Aboriginal hand stencils are preserved against a rocky overhang.
Further along the highway at the end of Hat Hill Road in Blackheath is Perrys Lookdown, a stunning camp site flanked by bush on one side and stunning views over the Blue Mountains valleys on the other. Also set inside the national park, this camp ground cannot be booked so it's the luck of the draw to get one of its five spots but worth the gamble for the views alone. The area offers challenging walks for adults and older children.
Take a totally different approach by heading further into the Megalong Valley from Blackheath, down Shipley Road, which is posted with directions to camp sites and other accommodation. Tucked away here are free waterside camping areas with toilets and easy access to horse riding, waterholes and daily activities run out of the old homestead, now converted into a farmstay.
Megalong Heritage Centre offers softer options for tent-free bush weekends. You can stay at the homestead or the old shearers' quarters or even rent one of three houses on the property. There are horses to ride, sheep to be shorn and a farm nursery to keep everybody busy between bushwalks, hearty meals and creek swimming. Activities at the centre are open for campers in the area too.
The other end of the Blue Mountains spectrum is the Kanangra Walls area at the southern extent of the National Park, near Oberon. This is one of the walking community's treasured stretches of bush - and not just because it's incredibly beautiful. Kanangra Walls Road leads into the region's only marked trails and camp sites. You can join up with it by heading along Jenolan Caves Road from Oberon, or by driving through the caves themselves and then meeting the road that winds through bush before hitting the plateau.
You can camp on the plateau, off Kanangra Road at two spots known as Boyd River Crossing. These are really great, rugged camp sites offering true wilderness experiences, and with plenty of room for the kids to test their off-road cycling skills while you try your luck with the trout in the creek. You can all meet kookaburras and kangaroos when the late-afternoon sun brings the bush to life and welcome in the cool nights around a bush fire (bring your own wood).
Not far from the camp sites you'll find the Plateau Walk, an easy, marked trail heading off from the car park at the end of Kanangra Road. The trail eventually opens up to a rock plateau where you can find Aboriginal axe grooves, creeks and intense views.
A clear day is a photographer's dream, with endless horizons over awesome raw cliff faces and deep, thick bush stretching in all directions from Katoomba and Mt Cloud Maker. The panorama is breathtaking and, if the conditions are right, you can take in the spectacle of light which makes the bush and the sky shine in the gorgeous tones that earned the Blue Mountains their name.
NSW National Parks can be closed at times of bushfire and bushfire danger. It is advisable to check with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service before you set off. Either phone 1300 361 967 (within NSW) or (02) 9253 4600 or visit www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au.
Its best to book a site with NPWS before you travel. That way you are guaranteed a site in a serviced area.
Sue, Quakers Hill.
4WD
