A popular idea of the Blue Mountains is what you see from the tourist lookouts at Wentworth Falls, Echo Point and Govetts Leap - an expanse of thick bush, sandstone, ochre clifflines and deep gorges.

While this is pretty true for the central, Blue Mountains Range area, it doesn't do justice to the complexity of that terrain or the variety of other landscapes that make up the whole Greater Blue Mountains.

The origin of the Blue Mountains is a fascinating geological story of deposition, vulcanism, earth movements and erosion – a story that is still not fully understood.

The resulting landscape diversity controls everything else – microclimates, soils, flora and fauna.