Australia’s Blue Mountains
Australia’s Blue Mountains are similar to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Vermont’s Green Mountains or Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. They are all nearby major metropolitan areas; have small tourist towns filled with art galleries, craft ateliers and souvenir shops; provide escape from the summer heat; and offer hiking trails and a taste of nature to city dwellers.
These rugged mountains, about two hours from Sydney, form a natural barrier to the rest of the continent. It took 25 years after the first landing of the convict ships in Sydney before settlers managed to cross these escarpments, canyons and forests. Two years later a road traversed the hills opening Australia’s west. Today it only takes two hours by train or automobile to arrive in the center of the Blue Mountains to enjoy small-town tourist attractions and very accessible nature.
The lush forests of the Blue Mountains are almost exclusively eucalypt, with more than a hundred different species. (The tallest tree on record, 435-feet tall, is a eucalypt.) The forests are filled with 400 animal species, more than 4000 moth and butterfly species and 265 different bird species. Wombats, raccoons, possums, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, glowworms, snakes, owls and bats all call this region home.
Local tourism officials encourage visitors to come to the Blue Mountains for at least three days, so that the trip becomes more than simply dinner and an overnight in a B&B but is an encounter with nature. Tread Lightly Eco Tours (4788 1229) runs a series of nature discovery tours. The owner of the company, Tim Tranter, takes visitors out for hikes by day and night as well as organizes 4WDs to explore the greater eco system. The Lilianfels Resort and Spa (more on them later) sets up guided night walks for their guests complete with champagne and hors d’oeuvres blending nature with luxury concierge service.
Our short visit to the Blue Mountains was definitely on the luxury side. We visited the small town of Leura and had a chance to taste award-winning chocolates with coffee at Café Josophan’s right in the middle of town. Then wandered into about a score of shops selling everything from used books to gourmet foods and fashions to woodworking and candles.
For lunch, we drove to the Solitary Kiosk (4782 1164). A restaurant has been in this scenic cottage overlooking the sandstone escarpments since 1913. Just below the restaurant at a hairpin bend in the road, the Leura Falls once served as the local bathing place. Originally, Solitary Kiosk was called the Leura Falls Kiosk and then, more colorfully, the Fork ‘n’ View. And what a view it is. No other restaurant in the region can claim the same quality panorama overlooking Mount Solitary and Kings Tableland.
This restaurant may have once focused on biscuits and tea, but today it is clearly gourmet with a focus on food from the surrounding region. The soft brown and white dining room is simple and crisp-linen elegant. The owner, Georgia Shepherd, once a ballerina, glides from table to table while her husband commands the kitchen. His background in some of the best-known restaurants in Sydney has found its own style here in the fresh air of the Blue Mountains.
My lunch was a thick stew-like vegetable soup followed by a wonderful mushroom pie created from wild mushrooms just picked in the local forests by the chef-owner and his wife. The dinner menu listed local lamb, sweet and sour hare with Armagnac-soaked raisins, and roasted barramundi with Queensland scallops and vanilla potatoes. One of the tasty starters is a chorizo pizza with caramelized onions.
After lunch, we proceeded to Katoomba where we arrived at our accommodations for the night, the Lilianfels Blue Mountain Resort and Spa (4780 1200). This romantic hotel is tucked behind the original house that was once the home of Frederick Darley, the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. The “high class cottage” got its name from his young daughter who unfortunately died before the home was completed.
This is the Blue Mountain luxury destination for the upper crust from Sydney. Now, owned by Orient-Express-Hotels, Lilianfels exudes quiet confident elegance — it is a hotel that prides itself on service and the finest amenities. Rooms open to the English gardens or have views over the Eucalyptus forests of the Jamison Valley. The healthy mountain climate is enhanced by the Spa at Lilianfels with an outdoor heated pool, tennis courts and gymnasium. Classes touch on everything from Wilderness Therapy Walks to Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation.
From the hotel it is only a 15-minute walk to Echo Point with its world-famous views of the Three Sisters rock formation. The thousand-foot deep canyon spreading beneath Echo Point is large enough to swallow the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Lady Darleys Lookout is a climb down 200-something steps below Lilianfels. I walked down to catch the next morning sunrise illuminating the red sandstone cliffs. The view is wonderful, but the climb back up is tedious.
The region has a plethora of nature activities. Two cable cars and a funicular provide views and access to the rainforest. Hundreds of miles of maintained walking trails drop down thousands of steps and trace the canyon floor. Bushwalking tours leave at all hours during the day and at night stargazing tours and night treks offer a rare nocturnal view of the forests. The limestone Jenolan Caves dazzle kids of all ages with stalagmites and stalactites … and ghosts according to local legend. The steam-powered Zig Zag Railway zigzags over dramatic viaducts built in the late 1800s. There is plenty to do.
Dinner at Darley’s Restaurant, Lilianfels’ signature restaurant, was a wonderful gourmet affair. The dining room has recently been restored to its early 1900 Victorian style. Crystal chandeliers light the room over an ornate fireplace. French doors open to the veranda. Stained-glass touches, a dark paneled ceiling and pale golden wallpaper set the scene for the magnificent dinner.
The first course was goat curd layered with eggplant puree followed by sashimi tuna over seared octopus in a pool of clarified tomato juice, surrounded by Ligurian olives. Snapper was served on a bed of rice with shaved cuttlefish and a sautéed zucchini flower. Next, grilled organic free-range chicken sausage was presented with mushrooms and Jerusalem artichokes sautéed in bacon lard. The main course was Angus beef over a bed of pureed spinach with Béarnaise sauce. Dessert was layered vanilla bean ice cream, pureed chestnuts, Italian meringue and toffee apples.
After a flat white coffee and a walk through the gardens. I retired to prepare for our final days in Sydney.
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