Description of the attraction
The Great Blue Mountains is a territory in the state of New South Wales, in 2000 included in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List. The landscape of the territory is unusually diverse - rugged plateaus, sheer cliffs, deep, inaccessible gorges, rivers and lakes teeming with life. The unique plants and animals found in this area are living proof of Australia's ancient history and incredible biodiversity.
The Great Blue Mountains is a 10,300 sq km wooded plateau located 60 km from Sydney. For comparison: its territory is twice the area of Brunei and makes up almost one third of the territory of Belgium.
This area got its name because of an unusual phenomenon: when the air temperature rises, the eucalyptus trees growing here evaporate essential oils, and then the visible blue spectrum of sunlight spreads more than other colors. Therefore, the human eye perceives the surrounding landscape as bluish.
The Great Blue Mountains are home to seven national parks - Blue Mountains, Wollemi, Yengo, Nattai, Kanangra Boyd, Rock Garden and Silmer Lakes - and Jenolana Karst Caves. …
In fact, this territory does not consist of mountains in the usual sense of the word, it is a deeply indented plateau, the highest point of which is 1300 meters above sea level. It is believed that such a geological structure of the plateau protects its inhabitants from abrupt climatic changes, which allowed many species of plants and animals to survive the periods of global "restructuring" of our planet.
The most famous plants in the Blue Mountains are undoubtedly eucalyptus trees - there are 91 species of them here! Twelve of them are endemic, that is, they are not found anywhere else in the world. For scientists, this is a real laboratory for studying the evolution of these amazing ancient trees. And it was here in 1995 that the peers of the dinosaurs were discovered - the Wollem pines, which were considered to have disappeared from the face of the Earth millions of years ago.
More than 400 species of animals live among the gorges and hills of the Blue Mountains, including rare and endangered ones - speckled marsupial marten, koala, giant marsupial flying squirrel, long-nosed sweat, etc.
Description added:
Anna Vinogradova 2013-29-04
It is very beautiful there, always fresh air and very, very many beautiful animals and birds.
