The two of us have just returned home from checking-out of this heritage private stay before 10am. 👍 Reporting in upon return, our latest private getaway had been much needed for us at this time. It’s been us just getting away, geographically though not far from our home; not complicated, not sophisticated. It’s been a wonderful break to just simply get […]
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In May 2026, Nature Trail’s Tour Director took time out to have a getaway with his wife, but not too far a drive from Katoomba – try 45 minutes door-to-door, and staying Blue Mountains local. We returned to one of our favourite retreats – The Megalong nearby – somewhere. Megalong means ‘valley‘ in Aboriginal, so it’s quite a tautology to […]
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In 2024, Nature Trail’s Tour Director Steven Ridd with family, travelled afar, indeed to old England; not for the first time but. One’s ancestry is 100% British Isles – actually from all five countries within and pre-Norman Conquest (1066 AD) and the pre-Dane Invasion of Britain (793 AD). The old English surname ‘Ridd’ is Anglo-Saxon centred around Tawstock in North […]
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‘The Convent‘ 4-star heritage accommodation hotel at rural/tranquil 88 Halls Road (off Broke Road; a 15 minutes easy drive west of Cessnock town in the heart of the best of the Hunter Valley wine region)… This convent of Coonamble town was in 1991 saved from impending destruction and instead relocated holus bolus by an entrepreneur benefactor investing in multiple road […]
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(AUTHOR’S NOTE TO READERS: This article is a work in progress. This article is long because the trail we are critiquing is long. So we have divided up our critique into chapters, that in time will evolve into another one of our webbooks, free for all. So, we continue to update the content when time permits and in the process […]
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This 19+km trek is officially promoted equivalent to a proverbial ‘walk in the park’ as being do-able in just 2-days… like ‘easy peasy’? Yet, from our on-ground hiking experience of this trail, it seriously is anything but! The Parks Service’s (NPWS) March 2024 public opening launch of its new concept ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘ in the Australian Blue Mountains, was […]
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In the Australian Blue Mountains, during the cooler months of June and July 2025, Nature Trail’s Tour Director, Steve Ridd, has decided to undertake a series of segmented practice reconnoitre trips (‘recces’) of the recently and mostly upgraded and renamed amalgamated hiking tracks branded the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘. This track is situated in the central upper Blue Mountains Region, […]
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This Trail Segment 1: Specifications: This Nature Trail Tour Title: Grand Cliff Top Walk Trek NT Tour Code: MT-GCT/1 NT Tour Code Description: Multi-Day Trek Tour Category Tailored Trail Official Opening Date: Monday 25th March 2024 Tour Current Status: Scouted> Recce > Practised > Commercial Trail partial closure, with roadway detour Nature Trail Version: Grand Cliff Top Walk – Original […]
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(Content TBA) This lead feature image is our snippet photo of an Australian native Broadleafed Geebung (botanical name is Persoonia Levis). This particular trail segment of the 2024 ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ is situated in an sunny exposed escarpment heath open woodland natural environment. This flaky paperbark type rich red coloured bark is of the inner peel layers within […]
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Nature Trail has specially selected this trail segment of the 2024 Grand Cliff Top Walk trail because it is has a relatively medium grade hike (yet with still many staircases up and down) which may be undertaken in a manageable half-day duration, yet by only hiking-fit adults and teenagers, but not sensibly for infants/toddlers nor anyone disabled. This trail segment […]
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On Friday morning 4th July 2025, Friends of Nature Trail chose our recce of this particular segment of the Grand Cliff Top Walk from west of Leura Cascades Picnic Reserve to Echo Point Lookout. This is because currently Leura Cascades Picnic Reserve is closed for council upgrade, plus a recent landslip on Round Track has close the track route as […]
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(A) Brief Background: On Thursday 31 July 2025, Nature Trail managed to reconnoitre the 2024 ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ trail version which we have decided to label as ‘SEGMENT 6: Echo Point Lookout to Katoomba Falls. We have hiked this track many times over the years, being so close to home. However, this recent trail infrastructure upgrade project deserved our […]
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(A) Brief Background Let the truth be known, the ORIGINAL ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘ as proposed in the 1980s was to construct a hiking track to extend from the original Weatherboard Hut (from 1814) site all the way to the Explorers’ Marked Tree (from 1813) – to create an epic 30+ km amalgamation mega trail concept to link up old […]
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(Tour yarn pending)
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(Tour yarn pending)
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(tour yarn pending)
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Some 120km west of Sydney and at 1052 metres above sea level, Mount Victoria on the western escarpment is the highest and last village of the Central Blue Mountains before the road heads down the pass into the verdant valleys beyond. It is a charming Victorian village with heritage architecture dating back to the 1840s. It’s One Tree Hill at […]
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From time to time as the seasons entice, Nature Trail ventures beyond the Blue Mountains west into the pastoral and historic Central West Region of New South Wales, like on this occasion. We arrive in spring and high altitude Oberon’s fickle weather is luckily sunny for us today. Mayfield Garden is 13 km outside the old logging town of Oberon, […]
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Grand tour this one, so we get an early start at 7am. We explore what Shipley Plateau has to offer west of Blackheath, plus the entire length of the Megalong. ‘Megalong’ is Aboriginal for ‘valley under the cliff’ – Narrowneck’s ancient and magisterial sandstone escarpment. Locals have long balked at the tautology of ‘Megalong Valley‘ – translated to be ‘Valley […]
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Keen on an early start especially in the damp mist, determination paid off for us. Our small group of three drove out to one of the more remote parts of the Grose Gorge. Crawling along in the fog, our driver slowly rounded the corner to Eastern Grey Kangaroos happily grazing wild by the track. The dark grey male must have […]
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The forecast was for a warm windy day, so what better than to explore the shady dells below the Jamison Valley escarpment along the edge of Leura village. A small personable party of three, we passed through heath and native herbs, peas and myrtles flowering in spring this time of year. Cracked seed pods of the Hakea bushes lay across […]
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How lucky are we in the Mountains to celebrate spring and be just a short drive from a host of golden daffodils – all very much inspired by English 19th Century Romantic poet William Wordsworth. So last Saturday in mid September our tour headed west from the Blue Mountains, visiting wee Rydal village and its renowned daffodil festival. As always […]
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