‘Mountains Drums’ Blog

Welcome to ‘Mountains Drums‘.

This is Nature Trail’s field blog expressing views and insights about the goings on out in the Blue Mountains great outdoors from our local experiences over decades.

This blog is written mostly by one of our regular Mountains hikers, Flex, plus also our Tour Directors Steve contributes his articles from time to time.

We also invite our guests to submit their own article to this blog. Just email us at:

steve[at]naturetrail.com.au

The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area covers over a million hectares of native vegetation and is arguably a bushwalker’s paradise of choice.

Yet over more than twenty five years of hiking the Blue Mountains, we continue to observe and read about those accessing the Blue Mountains great outdoors and those managing this World Heritage failing to learn from the wisdom of others before them – the requisite knowledge, skills, experience, preparation and attitude to appreciate and not harm or being harmed.

At Nature Trail we relish the great outdoors and value the Blue Mountains and its magnificent and expansive world heritage region.

But while we embrace the outdoors experience, fun and adventure, we are critical of those who foolishly risk life and limb and who recklessly encourage others to do likewise.

Whilst the Blue Mountains may still be of world heritage value, we do not see world’s best practice nor leadership evolving in outdoor recreation nor in custodial management.

Hardly a week passes without reports of helicopter rescues of injured hikers, canyoners and rockclimbers, of lost hikers, benighted hikers, missing hikers and of deaths by those setting out ignorant or just poorly prepared.

We constantly read reports by locals of the threats of invasive tourism, ugly mass tourism, the dominance of a tourism oligopoly, of poor track conditions and neglected signage, of the underfunded and understaffed National Parks and Wildlife Service.

We observe the disconnect between government authorities delegated with custodial responsibility for protecting and managing the natural values of The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, and with tourism providers and consumers.

More recently we’ve observed multiple landslips left neglected for months and years, that then shut down many hiking tracks (as well as critical road and rail access). Government repeatedly allows wildfires to burn, in 2019 left to incinerate 80% of the world heritage area and other ‘National Parks’ so-called throughout New South Wales. Governmental abandonment of its national quarantine responsibilities allowed an imported China Virus Pandemic shut down Blue Mountains tourism and visitation completely for two years (2020-2021).

Each tragic instance/incident is reported in isolation, but as if some freak event, then it’s soon forgotten by the media. No lessons are learned by authorities responsible, no improvements are applied to safety standards or education to visitors/users. So inevitably, similar tragic instances/incidents repeat time and time again.

One purpose of this Mountains Drums blog serves is to share local knowledge and goings on about the Blue Mountains region’s great outdoors to all. Also, it is to highlight management problems, many chronic; and to question why the governmental custodians and managers of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, fail to listen, learn and deliver world best practice leadership.

Our hiking blogger Flex does not hold back. This ‘Mountains Drums‘ blog is intended to be a wake up call to the Blue Mountains community to lift its game and to actively challenge government responsible.

The articles on our Mountains Drums blog form part of Nature Trail’s contribution to the Blue Mountains community in which we live, operate and share. We value the beauty and sanctity that the natural Blue Mountains offers. We value the safety and viability of our Blue Mountain community at the same time.

Responsibly, we are concerned when these vital values are undermined. So then we speak out as informal ambassador locals about where we live.

Of course visitation is for fun; but safety must come first, and then the fun a reassuring second.

Every participant recreating in the great outdoors deserves to return well to their loved ones. Through our ‘Mountains Drums’ blog channel we choose to fairly tell what’s been happening in our neck of the woods. We tell it warts and all.

To contact Flex at Mountains Drums email: flex[at]naturetrail.com.au

Blog Posts

Katoomba’s Town Centre Charrette Plan of 1999 – CONTENTS

Government Planning Incompetence, Village Amenity

By Flex / May 16, 2023

Katoomba’s Town Centre Charrette Plan of 1999 – CONTENTS

[Editor's Note: This Web Book comprises 19 chapters, each a webpage. It remains a work-in-progress and we expect to complete...

Katoomba’s Charette – Chapter 1: A Brief Background to Katoomba’s Town Centre planning pre-1998

Government Planning Incompetence, Village Amenity

By Flex / May 15, 2023

Katoomba’s Charette – Chapter 1: A Brief Background to Katoomba’s Town Centre planning pre-1998

Back in 1998, the regional community of Katoomba had formed a view that their township centre deserved progressive town planning. ...

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 2: Katoomba townsfolk’s initiative for Town Planning

Government Planning Incompetence, Village Amenity

By Flex / May 15, 2023

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 2: Katoomba townsfolk’s initiative for Town Planning

So, in 1998 a number of wise established townsfolk locals of Katoomba (residents and business people alike) with a passionate...

By Flex / May 15, 2023

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 3: ‘Charrette’ as a Project Methodology

Charrette Origins: 'Charrette' is derived from the French phrase for 'little cart', as in incremental additions to a 'cart' of...

By Flex / May 15, 2023

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 4: Charrette Adaptation to Urban Design

Later, a United States architectural and planning firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ), an architecture and planning firm based in...

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 5: ‘Design Charrette’ Adaptation to Katoomba’s Town Centre

Government Planning Incompetence, Village Amenity

By Flex / May 15, 2023

Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 5: ‘Design Charrette’ Adaptation to Katoomba’s Town Centre

The 'charrette' methodology facilitates incremental creative project management was more recently adopted by urban design consulting firm Ecologically Sustainable Design...