This Discovery Trail Is Well

Blue Mountains Drive DISCOVERY TRAIL

Drive summary This Discovery Trail is well • 36 km (one way), 1 hr to drive (one way) plus stops • Sealed suburban roads known as an ‘edge-of-the- • Start: Katoomba Finish: The Valley of the Waters (Wentworth Falls) world’ drive around the cliff- • Alerts!: Busy suburban streets with many intersections. tops, packed full of lookouts, �� picnic areas and walking �� tracks. It is located right �� alongside lots of galleries, cafes, gardens attractions and �� accommodation. Highlights

of the drive include visiting �� Echo Point and the Three �� Sisters, Sublime Point and the �� Wentworth Falls Picnic Area and �� its associated lookouts. �� Route Description �� Begin on the western side of Katoomba, at �� the intersection of Valley Road and Bathurst �� Road. Travel south where this road changes to Narrow Neck Road and turn right into Cliff Drive, following it round to Cahills Lookout, After a short walk to this majestic view, the trail At the highway, turn right, then at the next back out to Narrow Neck Road and round follows the signs to Sydney, back out to the traffic lights turn left into Falls Road and to Narrow Neck Lookout. A drive along Great Western Highway. down to Wentworth Falls Picnic Area with its Narrow Neck via Glenraphael Drive is a scenic Turn left at the highway, go under the railway lookouts and walking tracks. diversion, or continue along Cliff Drive to underpass and then immediately right. The final stop is The Valley of the Waters Picnic Hildas Lookout, Cyclorama Point and Scenic Follow the signs along Sinclair Crescent to Area and café, reached by driving a short way World with its rides offering both scenic views Wentworth Falls Lake – a peaceful spot with back along Falls Road and turning left into and easy access to the valley below. picnic facilities, childrens’ play equipment and Fletcher Street. The next stop is Katoomba Falls Picnic Area, canoeing opportunities. This Discovery Trail is a great day out with a trackhead for the walking track network, Continuing along Sinclair Crescent, turn right time to enjoy some key short walks, such as then Echo Point with the Accredited Visitor at the intersection with Blaxland Road, into the Katoomba Falls, Leura Cascades, Sublime Point Information Centre and the famous view to the Wentworth Falls village centre. and Princes Rock (at Wentworth Falls). Three Sisters and Mount Solitary. Be sure not to miss the Echo Point Accredited Visitor Information Centre with its information resources and gift shop. Cliff Drive proceeds round the edge of the bush to Leura Cascades Park – another walking trackhead. From here follow the road on and veer right into Olympian Parade which leads to Gordon Falls Reserve. From the reserve, backtrack slightly and turn right into Leura Mall then right into Craigend Street. Follow the signs down to Everglades. Return to Fitzroy St and follow this to Watkins Rd and then on to Sublime Pt Road and Sublime Point. Blue Mountains Drive DISCOVERY TRAIL: things to see and do

Most of the discovery trails branching out Landslide Lookout peers straight down the Point to the Three Sisters, the Prince Henry from the Greater Blue Mountains Drive could awesome wall of Dog Face. Lookouts like Cliff Walk, Leura Cascades and Sublime Point. be described as leisurely country cruises, but this can be quite amazing in wet weather. If you’re lucky enough to have a helpful the Blue Mountains Drive Discovery Trail is Swirling clouds and tendrils of mist snake driver, you could get dropped off and more intense and far from remote. It makes through the valley, giving real meaning to picked up further along, after striding up for the wide open spaces by packing in a that word ‘atmospheric’, while the forest several kilometres around the rim of cliffs. smorgasbord of views, picnic places, walking below is a dappled mosaic of rich colours. tracks, waterfalls and lookouts – including Alternatively you can catch the regular Blue Even thick mist is to be enjoyed, when the many of the classic sights of the central Blue Mountains Explorer bus or Trolley bus to cliffs plunge into fog-shrouded mystery and Mountains. The drive hugs the top of the shuttle between locations. bird calls rise from the hidden deeps. Fog escarpment most of the way from Katoomba Fit walkers will also enjoy the tracks into highlights the colours and textures of the to Wentworth Falls, hovering between the the valley that range up to about four hours escarpment vegetation, a complex mix of world of nature on one hand and cultured in length. Some of the best are the Giant windswept heath, twisty gums and fern-filled villages on the other. Stairway, Fern Bower, Valley of the Waters glades of tall trees and rainforest. The Blue and National Pass. You can even plan some This tour is so friendly that it could be Mountains is no place to stay indoors until rambles to end at Scenic World and avoid the followed with a street directory and the the sun comes out! local tourist drive signs. But to get the most climb back up. The discovery trail follows Cliff Drive out of all the places along the way it’s wise There are so many picnic sites that it’s a eastward along the escarpment, around to pick up detailed brochures – and they’re tough choice where to stop. The kids might the rim of the forest-filled Jamison and particularly helpful for selecting and safely vote for one of the picnic areas with play Kedumba valleys. It weaves in and out of enjoying a few walking tracks. equipment or gas barbecues, while adults a series of gullies, each with its own picnic could well prefer a village stopover. The The villages offer all the sensual pleasures of area and walking tracks, punctuated by drive passes close to the Katoomba shops cafes and galleries that can be dipped into waterfalls tumbling down the cliff, headland and through the village centres of Leura at any time along the way, while on nature’s lookouts and informative signs. The valley and Wentworth Falls, with many cafes, side of the drive, there are so many cliff-top amphitheatre is a frequent backdrop with the restaurants and galleries along the way. attractions that you might have to pick and shapely mesa of Mount Solitary beyond. choose how many you indulge! They include Wentworth Falls Lake is set on the plateau Katoomba Falls Park, Leura Cascades Park, famous Blue Mountains sites – icons of the well back from the cliff-edge and so has a Sublime Point, Wentworth Falls Lake, World Heritage Area - as well as some out- spacious picnic area. Outdoor sandstone Wentworth Falls Picnic Area and Valley of the of-the-way and quieter spots. With such a sculptures, waterbirds and the lake itself are Waters Picnic Area are the main natural sites, variety of activities on offer, this is a perfect bonus attractions – especially in summer but most people will reckon Scenic World day out for the family and can be enjoyed in when a spot of canoeing might appeal. and Echo Point are also essential stops. almost any weather. The tour concludes with Wentworth Falls Scenic World rides provide unique First up out of Katoomba is Cahills Lookout. Picnic Area and then its sister locale at perspectives on the cliffline landscapes. In A short walk reveals a western panorama of The Valley of the Waters, both within Blue addition to its renowned cross valley cable the Megalong Valley, with its patchwork of Mountains National Park. Linked by a car and two other rides connecting with the bush and farmland and the Great Divide on fabulous network of walking tracks at three valley below it offers lovely walks through the horizon. Close by is the ironstone-fretted different levels on the escarpment, these the lush valley forests along a boardwalk. formation of Boars Head Rock and the cliff- two areas are quite different in character. bound Narrow Neck Peninsula reaching into Around from here, the nearby famously Wentworth Falls has lookouts and a large the southern wilderness of the Greater Blue vertiginous scene from Echo Point gets picnic area with barbecues, while The Valley Mountains World Heritage Area. up close to the Three Sisters. This is of the Waters has the Conservation Hut Café Gundungurra country, and local Aboriginal If you don’t mind a bit of dirt, the drive along (and its ongoing historic linkage with the stories are highlighted in the interpretation the first part of Narrow Neck is an interesting Blue Mountains Conservation Society). that features in the ‘plaza’ at Echo Point. And diversion, and the trail beyond the locked The Conservation Hut was designed to be of course a drop-in at the Visitor Information gate is a spectacular and popular mountain environment-friendly, back when that was Centre is a must. bike ride. Views back to the main escarpment quite a radical idea. There’s nothing better take in the yellow bluff of Dog Face that Walking opportunities abound along the after a great day out than relaxing there with was sheared off when a massive hunk of escarpment, from cliff-top strolls of a few a cup of your favourite beverage, gazing cliff fell down in 1931, probably triggered by minutes to challenging descents down those out at tree-filtered views of the magical historic coal-mining beneath. Like a golden cliffs into the valley. Relatively easy but very Blue Mountains. mirror, Dog Face catches the last light of scenic walks winding around the cliff-tops sunset, and the slope below is strewn with include Katoomba Falls to Echo Point, Echo tumbled debris.

Back on the ‘mainland’, a vista opens out The Greater Blue Mountains Drive has been established by the regions which share the mountains as their own backyard working together to develop the drive in collaboration with the NSW Dept of Environment from Cyclorama Point in both directions and Climate Change, Tourism NSW and Tourism Australia. Further development of the drive product has been enhanced by the ongoing involvement of Transurban. The establishment of the drive was proudly along the escarpment, while the nearby supported by the Australian Government and its business program delivery division, AusIndustry in a program proposed and developed by Blue Mountains Tourism Limited. © 2007