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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‘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. We continue to update it and in the process will attempt to facilitate more convenient webbook style navigation of the content. This is not part of our ‘Mountains Drums’ blog, and not one of our ‘Tour Yarns’. Rather, this is our Tour Director’s trek review of this new integrated […]
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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 […]
Continue reading »Nature Trail Programme for Winter 2018 We are pleased to offer our Nature Trail Programme for the Autumn 2018 season below, exploring an eclectic mix of hiking tours as well as special interest tours – formal gardens, village heritage and local cultural experiences. Trip_Version Trip_ID Tour Code ……………Tour_Title……………… Day ….Date…. Recce 56 Nature Trail TAFE Presentation Wed 6-Jun-18 Recce 57 […]
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Artists Directory
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Tour Title: Grand Canyon Majesty Tour Code: HK-GCM Tour Type: Full Day Guided Hiking Tour Tour Price: $200 pp Tour Times: Start at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Katoomba 7:30am. Return to Katoomba 3:30pm approx. Tour Duration: 8 hours approx. Transport: Our tour leader is a qualified coach captain driving our tour vehicle ‘Excalibur’ – our luxury P38 Range Rover HSE. […]
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Tour Title: Katoomba Cascades to 3 Sisters Tour Code: HK-KPE Tour Type: Short Hiking Tour Tour Price: $20 pp Tour Times: Start at Katoomba Station 8:30am. Return to Katoomba Station 10:00am approx. Tour Duration: 1.5 hours approx. Transport: We go Eco and Low Cost. We then we catch a local bus. Use your Opal Card! Tour Overview: This is a […]
Continue reading »Nature Trail Practice Tours in Winter 2014 TRIP 02 Tour Title: Everglades and Sorensen Gardens Tour Code: GN-ESG Date: Wednesday, 4th Jun 2014 Trip Start Time: 10am Trip Finish Time: 2pm APPROX Trip Type: Morning with Gourmet Lunch Trip Category: Practice Trip Walk Distance/Grade: <1km / Easy […]
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