The Blue Mountains NSW Australia - Essay Example

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT Name: Institution: Date: The Blue Mountains NSW Australia Introduction The Blue Mountains is a world heritage region that is based within a wilderness that can be easily reached. It covers more than one million hectares of canyons, rainforest, heath lands and eucalypt forest in NSW Australia. The landscape further extends Northwards to the Hunter valley and includes the areas of Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, Yengo, Thirlmere lakes National Parks, Nattai and the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve. There Is a path beginning at the “conservation hut”, down the valley of the waters, along the National pass and again up at Wentworth falls and back to the conservation hut - perfect walk but one that has lots of steps. The unique landscape, animals and plants in this exceptional environment gives away the awesome story of the natural and cultural historical heritage of Australia. This is a photography project of some parts of the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains Landscape Description The Formation of the Blue Mountains The Blue Mountains, according to Archaeoological studies of the region were formed about 1 million years ago as part of the Kosciusko Uplift in the Pliocene eon. The studies also indicate that the region was raised upwards by pressure from the east in a “monoclinal fold” to an point of about 3000 feet where point victoria is found on the blue mountains today (Tourism Australia 2009). Naming of the Blue Mountains In the year 1788, the blue mountains were known as “Carmarthen Hills” and “Landsdowne Hills” as they were originally named by Governor Phillip. A little while after, they were however named Blue Mountains after the distinguishing blue mist that surrounds the area. The Blue Mountains is an area that is heavily populated with oil producing Eucalyptus trees. The Eucalyptus trees produce droplets of oils that disperse finely over the region and produce “blue short wave-length rays of light” when they mix with dust specks and water vapour. The First Blue Mountains Inhabitants The first inhabitants of the Blue Mountaisn were Aborigines but its not known how far back in histroy their occupation of the region dates. There has been evidence of Daruk Tribe occupation in the region seen through the Aboriginal carved rock art. The Blue Mountain Infrastructure The Blue Mountains were at the beginning seen as impassable as far as future explorations were concerned due to a lack of resources and the then existing rough terrain precisely at the time of the landing of Captain Cook in 1770 to 1813. In 1814, William Cox, an engineer with his team of eight guards and thirty convicts set out to build a road across the Blue Mountains together with two men of Aboriginal origin to assist them. Within a period of four months, they had completed a 47 miles road from Emu plains to Mount York and in only six months, they had crossed the Blue Mountains with a road of about 101 miles named Bathurst known as the Bathurst road. The first building on the Blue Mountains was built in the years between 1816 and 1817 and it was a military post at Springwood along Macquarie road between Home dale and Short streets where a plague had initially been built. Established to carry on communications with Barhurst by Governor Macquarie, the post was one of the several that would later be built to ensure the protection of travelers against attacks by Aborigines. Later on in the 1850’s, Gold was discovered in the Bathurst district and this saw many travelers travel across the Blue Mountains among them were the Chinese who were not as interested in Gold as they were in selling their commodities and skills. As the population f travelers grew, the need for better and faster means of transport also grew and in the 1860’s, a survey to build a railways began and soon it changed the entire Blue Mountains Terrain with the first official journey by train being made in 1867 between Penrith and Wetherboard (Wentworth falls) where the line ended. Springwood was the first commercial center of the Blue Mountains. Katoomba Katoomba was little known until 1879 after J.B North opened a coal mine there. Later in 1882 the first hotel was built which attracted lots of tourists and was later sold to Mr. F. Goyder in 1886 who renovated it and made changes to it and renamed it “The Carrington” after the then Governor. Crushes, an area along the railway line where trains stopped to adjust brakes before descending to springwood is what later came to be known as Katoomba in 1877. Later on, Katoomba was to become the capital of the city of Blue Mountains and is today located on the Western Highway based on the west of Sydney. Katoomba/ Wentworth Falls After the showers which are a common feature in the Blue Mountains the water really flows over the Kattomba falls, a place that is very popular and easy to access in the Blue Mountains. These two shots really did it because they were very nice. The first was taken in the morning after showers and the other one on a day when the rains had subsided. Kattomba is an Aboriginal word meaning “shinning falling water” which is quite true because when in the sun, the water seems to shine in the rays. The first two photos were taken out of a series of falls some few hundred meters from the main Katoomba falls. The third photo is a flow at the Jameson Creek Wentworth falls just before where the main Wentworth falls drop. The whole of Sydney was experiencing a wet winter just after Autumn when this photo was taken which was good for the photo shoot of the waterfall areas. Woy Woy Woy Woy – Blue Mountains NSW These two are photos of a Woy woy sunrise and sunset. Woy woy is a very picturesque area of the Blue Mountains based on the central coast. It is usually dotted with small boats and jetties all over (Fenton, 1999). These particular photos were taken at a specific point that gave the right calm and quiet conditions for the sun’s reflection. Woy woy is a very popular choice for holiday makers and is famous for shooting bathing and fishing. It is a water town on the Blue mountains that is totally urbanized and developed today. Soldier’s Beach Sunrise Soldiers Beach The first photo of the Soldiers Beach on Blue Mountains above was taken on a sunrise that seemed overcast with clouds and showers and it didn’t seem like there was any hope of getting any color for the sunrise. However, there was a tiny gap in the horizon from where the sun eventually rose and brought a touch of colour to the scene. Soldiers Beach Jetty Jetty – Blue Mountains NSW The town ship of long Jetty on the Blue Mountains has three long jetties hence its name. The first photo was the favorite one because of the reeds on the front ground which gave a boost to the photo. The second photo taken days later gives the impression of a sunset at long Jetty. Sublime Point Sublime point is a point on the Blue Mountains which offers fantastic views about the corner together with three other such points. They have a foggy weather most of the time and add some sort of panorama in the Blue Mountains. They are points of great interest and they help in balancing the view in this valley area which is mostly dark both at sunrise and sunset. The Bouddi National Park The above photos were taken at the Bouddi National Park located near Putty Beach, Blue Mountains on the central Coast of NSW. The whirling colored patterns on the sand stones above are always a beautiful sight to view. The first two photos were taken at dusk on a cloudy day while the other two were taken on a bright afternoon. The Bouddi National Park is an area that is splendidly attractive. The sandstone rings commonly known as liesenganfg rings with the pacific ocean as a backdrop as seen on the photos above are quite stunning and mind blowing to witness. Mt. Wilson – Blue Mountains NSW Mt. Wilson is a small beautiful village in the Blue Mountains. The village usually comes alive during the autumn season from March to May and remains so for a while. Sights like the ones above are great to view and a common feature. 3 Sisters sunset Blue Mountains The above photos are of the 3 Sisters on Blue Mountains on two different sunsets. The photos were taken in the evening to get a good shot of the shadows. Key Facts of Blue Mountains The whole of the Blue Mountains is over1.03 million hectares of forested landscape on a plateau of sandstone of about 60 to 180 kilometers in the interior of central Sydney in NSW Australia (Tourism Australia 2009). The larger Blue Mountains has eight areas that are protected and is summarily an area that is featured by an adaptation and diversification of eucalyptus on the Australian continent (Tourism Australia 2009). The Blue Mountains received listing in the world heritage listing in the year 2000 in recognition of its exceptional natural significance and upkeep of natural diversity and 9n the year 2007 it was among the top 15 World Heritage sites that were included on the list of National Heritage in Australia (Tourism Australia 2009) The Katoomba Scenic Railway has been nominated by the Guinness Book of World Records as the steepest railway in the world at a descend of about 415 meters through sand cliffs through a rock burrow that has a gradient of 52 degrees (Tourism Australia 2009). References Fenton, J, 1999, Woy Woy NSW, IFAA , 1. Tourism Australia, 2009, Greater Blue Mountains: An accessible wilderness on Sydney’s doorstep, National Landscapes , 1-4. Read More