Rainforest and Mountains

Stand in Australia’s rainforests and feel the antiquity of almost 60 million years. Explore the wonders of the natural world preserved in many national parks and World Heritage areas. The Blue Mountains (link to where-to-stay/blue mountains; title=Blue Mountains Australia) – so called because of the blue haze created by the eucalyptus oil in the air above the gum forests – are only 104 kilometres west of Sydney, capital of New South Wales, and remain largely untamed. Tropical North Queensland – with the city of Cairns as its major gateway – is a vast region encompassing beach and coastal wetlands, mountains, tablelands, forests and Gulf savanna grassland, plus a tremendous amount of things to do and see.

Lord Howe Island – the lone survivor of an extinct volcano chain and the world's southernmost coral reef – is part of New South Wales and at the same time a biological ark some 450 kilometres off mainland Australia. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, a World Heritage area, is a vast alpine region of wild and stunning beauty, with ancient forests and heaths, about 155 kilometres west of Tasmania’s northern city of Launceston. The World Heritage-listed Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia contain approximately 50 separate reserves stretching for more than 500 kilometres from New South Wales into Queensland.

Source: Tourism Australia 2006

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