Greater Blue Mountains - Britz

Four nights in a loop from Sydney in a campervan, into the Greater Blue Mountains, in five short legs.

Kings Tableland comes first, with lookouts over the Jamison Valley, then Katoomba and the escarpment, where the Three Sisters stand out of the cliff and the Scenic Railway drops into the valley on the steepest passenger incline in the world, built originally to serve a coal mine.

Lithgow follows on the western side, a coal and steel town with the Zig Zag Railway and the Glow Worm Tunnel nearby, an abandoned rail tunnel now full of them. Bilpin comes next on the Bells Line of Road, apple country where the roadside stalls sell cider and pies, with the Mount Tomah botanic garden close by, and Kurrajong closes the loop on the descent.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. The mountains are not especially high but the valleys are deep, and the whole area is UNESCO listed for its eucalypt diversity, with more than ninety species in it. Five days for a loop this short means almost no driving and a great deal of walking. It sits an hour and a half from Sydney, which makes it the easiest escape from the city in the Britz range, and the altitude keeps it cool when the coast is not. Campsites fill at weekends for exactly that reason, so a midweek start is the better plan.