Blue Mountains

Stand at Echo Point as dawn mist rolls through the Three Sisters and the Jamison Valley drops away below you — it's one of those moments that rewires your sense of scale. The Blue Mountains aren't a single peak but a vast plateau of sandstone cliffs, deep gorges and temperate rainforest that stretches for over 100km west of Sydney.

Katoomba is the heart of it all, a cool-climate heritage town with excellent cafes, galleries and direct cliff-edge walking tracks. The Giant Stairway descends into the valley where ferns brush your shoulders and the air smells of damp earth and eucalyptus oil — the blue haze that gives the mountains their name.

Leura's heritage gardens, the Wentworth Falls track, and the remote Blue Gum Forest in Grose Valley reward those who venture beyond the lookouts. Jenolan Caves — nine kilometres of illuminated limestone formations — make a spectacular full day from the plateau. For campers, the national park has everything from powered sites close to the village to remote bush camping where lyrebirds are your alarm clock.