Exploring The Blue Mountains NSW

Add Katoomba to your bucket list of places to explore…..

We are originally from Perth and our home city is relatively flat compared to other cities and states in Australia, so driving through New South Wales we have been blown away by the Great Dividing Range and the picturesque scenes of the mountains and landscape here.

Driving from town to town is forever changing and we never seem to see the same scenery twice!

Dubbo

On this trip we were coming from Dubbo where we had spent 3 nights at Red Earth Estate just behind the Taronga  Zoo, it’s a cheap spot to pull up for $25 per night for power and water. The host made the kids some fresh homemade dumplings and there is wine tasting available if you are interested.

This can be found on the Wiki-camps app.

We really only stopped in Dubbo to visit the zoo. We had been told we must visit if we are ever in the area so we made the effort to drive through Dubbo. This was our first major Zoo stop in over 2 years and we can say that it was worth the stop.

Bathurst

After leaving Dubbo there were plenty of places to stop and smell the roses but we decided to head straight to Bathurst and see what the famous town was all about. Now we couldn’t go through the town without taking the van on the famous lap at Mount Panorama.

This was a lot of fun and we highly recommend it. It is free and you can drive your rig around the racetrack. Don’t forget the iconic photo at the end.

Katoomba (Blue Mountains)

Here is where the fun begins, now getting into Katoomba is going to put your car to the test. The hills are steep and go for kilometres. They are by far the hardest set of hills that we have taken our van up and we could smell the car brakes burning coming down. It really doesn’t help when there is traffic and you can’t roll down the hills at your own speed (limit).

If you need to pull over and rest the car, then do so.

There is so much to do here in Katoomba that I suggest you stay here for at least a week. We stayed here for 4 days and we most definitely could have stayed longer. The only reason we left was because a blanket of cloud cover stopped us from seeing any sort of views from nearly any mountainside. We were extremely lucky to have seen what seen.

Places to visit-

Katoomba Falls

Katoomba Falls is a lovely walk, the path is fully pathed and has directional signs everywhere guiding you to the different lookouts and waterfalls. We had a lovely walk and a wonderful surprise at the end of the walk.

Mount Hay Road- Scenic Drive

Drive on a cliff mountain edge and make stops to see the sweeping views of the mountains. This drive is a must. There are plenty of walking trails and lots of places to park your car and stop for photo opportunities.

Three Sisters

The Three Sisters can be seen from various points around Katoomba, the best spot is from the Echo Point Visitors Information Centre. Here you can see the Three Sisters and it has a lovely pathed walking trail to the Three Sisters.

Accommodation- We stayed at the Katoomba Convention Centre. The campground welcomes all travellers and the sites have power and water, be wary though- trying to find a level site will be tough. Bring your ramps!

I hope you find this guide useful and if you have any more information to add please drop it in the comments below. This will help other readers and travellers find more great places to explore.

Check out our previous post for a 10-Day Itinerary From Coffs Harbour to Sydney

Kylie and Dan