Blue Mountains: Grose Wilderness

I had a week away, part of which I spent back in the Blue Mountains, around 100 km west of Sydney.

A place of staggering beauty and wonder. Such peace, solace and joy when there. The silence, the quiet. The deep love, appreciation and immersion in nature.

This is part of the view of the Grose Wilderness as seen from a bush track near Govetts Leap lookout.

Grose Wilderness is named for Lieutenant Governor Major Francis Grose. In 1793 he sent William Paterson on an expedition to see if the river provided a navigable route through the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains Area is a UNESCO World Heritage site, consisting of 1 million hectares of national park and wilderness dominated by temperate eucalypt forest. The area supports an incredible range of biodiversity.

There are six First Nation groups that have connection to the Country of the Area, for thousands of years tied as it is with Dreaming and rock art. These are the Darug, Gundungurra, Wiradjuri, Wanaruah, Darkinjung and Tharawal peoples.