Blue Mountains BOTANIC GARDEN - MOUNT TOMAH

Mount Tomah
Bells Line of Road
02 4567 3000
Wheelchair access
No Entry Fee

Blue Mountains World Heritage Exhibition Opens

Mount Tomah Botanic Garden Map

Set along historic Bells Line of Road and above Bilpin, Mount Tomah is the cool-climate garden of New South Wales Botanic Gardens Trust. "Cool" because it sits 1000 metres above sea level. "Cool" because the 70-acre garden features plants, trees and flowers of the Southern Hemisphere mountains - botanical life that is simultaneously hardy and colourful.

Footpaths, waterfalls and granite-lined trails endow the gardens with a unified and seamless ambience. Plants and trees from diverse mountain ranges - Japan, China, Chile, Korea and North America - are clustered as "plant communities" (separate gardens) and each has a unique character and quality.

A treat for garden lovers is the Jungle Walk, 33 hectares of pristine rainforest. Along half a kilometre of graded paths you'll find magnificent sassafras and coachwood trees and diverse plant and animal life. Opening the Jungle Walk is the realisation of a long-awaited dream for Mount Tomah.

For kids - Shiny carp linger in still dark pools, anxious skinks scurry under rocks, terrified of your big feet. Hidden among the rhododendrons, look for a tall, really tall, rock of basalt - lava of volcanic origin from perhaps 15 million years ago. Go on a quest for a dinosaur munching among the tallest gum trees or the crunchy green salad (ferns) below. Across the northern ridge of Mount Wilson, see in your mind's eye a thousand Aboriginal camp fires under a clear starry night. Find a place for a picnic and a spark for your imagination. Hint: take along binoculars and cameras. Bring a jumper as the wind can come up unexpectedly.

Throughout, there are several wedding venues: the formal garden is very European with benches, flowered arches and orderly boxwoods - but don't neglect the manicured grassy lawns or the base of the waterfall cascades overlooking the conifers and the Blue Mountains beyond. People movers allow everyone access to the Gardens.

Why a Village?

We regard Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah as a village" for it has all the characteristics of one: a restaurant (modern Australian cuisine) with distant views out to Mount Yango and Mount Wilson, free picnic and barbecue facilities, shuttle bus and tours, a gift shop and a gallery with frequently changing art exhibitions.

A self-contained accommodation facility - the "Jungle Lodge" - suitable for up to ten guests opened in 2009. Sound exotic? The price is so reasonable and with stunning panoramic mountain views, we suggest you call quickly. (02 4567 2154)

In 2010, the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Exhibition Centre opened - an attraction within an attraction. A contemporary space for displays and a viewing theatre with seating make the exhibition entertaining, educational and comfortable. Hands-on exhibits, including a replica slot canyon, are beautifully designed, commemorating the eucalypts which have been the dominant plant species for approximately 60 million years. It takes a moment to get my mind around this fact!

Other "stars", nature's and the human variety, are also celebrated in the exhibition. In the Blue Mountains, Australia's first conservation group was formed in 1931. Somehow, in a period of a global economic depression, the group raised sufficient funds to buy a lease and keep the Blue Gum Forest in public hands - an amazing feat and a determined group.

With the many activities available at Mount Tomah, make this an extended holiday. On your return trip, purchase the best of the Hawkesbury produce, jams and juices at fruit and veggie stands in Berambing and Bilpin, have lunch and do a bit of shopping in Kurrajong Village - all along historic Bells Line of Road. Kids will love the wicked curves and bends on the trip home.

Important details: From Sydney via the M2 and the M7, the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah is situated at the ridge line of the Hawkesbury and is 35 minutes from Richmond, past Kurrajong Heights and Bilpin along Bells Line of Road. For information and detailed maps of the area, visit the Visitor Information Centre at Clarendon (between Windsor and Richmond) or go to www.greaterbluemountainsdrive.com.au

 
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