Glenbrook
The Gateway to the famous Blue Mountains, the village of Glenbrook was once called Watertank – as a stopover for early trains that stopped to take in water piped to a storage tank from nearby Glenbrook Lagoon.
Steeped in railway history, the village is a popular destination for weekend bushwalkers and cyclists and is serviced by a growing variety of shops, restaurants and cafes.
The Bluff, Glenbrook Lagoon, Lapstone Zigzag Walk, Lennox Bridge (oldest surviving bridge on the Australian mainland) and the Stationmaster’s Cottage are all worthy tourist attractions.
Immediately south of Glenbrook village is the main lower mountains entry to the Blue Mountains National Park, where kangaroos abound. This area of the park features delightful natural scenery and also contains Jellybean rock pool – a popular swimming hole and attraction for locals in hot weather.
The Blue Mountains
The most asked question by visitors to the Blue Mountains is “What creates the blue haze”?
It is generally acknowledged that the mysterious blue haze is created by minute droplets of oil dispersed by the thousands of gum trees. Haze usually results when sunlight illuminates floating particles of dust, water droplets and air molecules that combine with the fine mist of oils. The blue haze is more noticeable from a distance.
The Blue Mountains are the remains of a vast plateau that has been mostly washed away by rivers and creeks.
The rock strata that make up the plateau were laid down from about 250 million years ago as layers of sand, silt and remains of plants in an enormous bay known as Sydney Basin.
Climate now adds to the ingredients that make up the magic of the mountains. Amazingly, the wild landscape extending approximately 200km on a north-south axis in what is termed the Greater Blue Mountains, starts where Sydney’s western suburbs end – a mere 65km from the heart of the central business district.