Sydney - The Blue Mountains.
The very first question may be – why are they called BLUE mountains? If you look at the various pictures you will notice that in the distance there is always a blue haze. The Blue Mountains is a magical place any time of the year. The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour

The Blue Mountains area is not very far from Sydney, I guess about 120 km (East) or so. To get there the road twists and turns and rises to about 1300 meters by the time you get to Lithgow.
This road is called Bells Line Road. In the 1800’s the Government sent a surveyor by the name of Bell out to build a road to the high sandstone plateau on top of the mountain range (and some other roads on the other side). This plateau is riddled with gullies and spurs that had Bell tearing his hair out to make it all passable. The road hugs the northern edge of the Grose Valley, and to its north are the gullies running down to the Colo River. The smaller Gullies are bridged and the wider ones have steep curves along the side followed by a small bridge and climb up on the other side. The noticeable industry’s in this area are the many Apple orchards, a sprinkle of wineries and tourism as just every tourist who visits Sydney would do a tour of the area or go at least to Katoomba to vies the ""Three Sisters".Just before Lithgow there is a great little collection of corners culminating in the deep slope of the last right-hander into town. Further down the road you pass the hair pins Kurrajong and Bellbird Hill, (and yes you can hear the bellbirds even you are wearing a helmet and the music is playing) From Lithgow there is an interesting loop south leading down to Jenolan and the Jenolan caves. Many signs warn that last bit is not suitable for busses, trucks or caravans and believe me the last few km drop over 500 meters down space does not allow even a large car as the turns are too steep and too short. With the bike it was full lock several times.At Janolan the road runs through the mountain but not by means of a tunnel. The roads runs into and out of the caves. On the way back the main attraction is Katoomba with its magnificent viewing area over the Blue Mountains and the so-called Three Sisters. From there it was back towards the point of departure completing the 355 km round trip.