Tag Archives: Recreation

Blue Mountains City Council has just achieved ECO Destination Certification for the Blue Mountains region after completing a rigorous two year assessment and auditing process.

Photo: Kamil Sustiak   Rock climber Tom O’Halloran came to Blackheath to climb. He discovered here a sense of freedom and inner calm which has propelled him to the top of international Sport Climbing and to selection in the Australian team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Tom and Oceana Mackenzie will represent Australia when the sport makes its debut in …

  In March this year, Japanese journalist Harumi Hayakawa wrote a piece for the Japanese publication Asahi Weekly in which she explained why the terrifying Australian fires of December 2019 actually made her like the Blue Mountains even more.     In her article she described the many ways the community came together during and after the fires and how, …

Join international natural dye artist, theatre costume designer and sustainable fashion expert Nicole Lamarche for an inspiring Natural Dye workshop at Blackheath Community Farm. Nicole, who is based in Avignon France, has been known as the ‘Godmother of natural dye’ for over 30 years. On the day we will forage together and learn to identify and harvest local plants, flowers …

On the edge of the Simpson Desert, 35 km from the nearest town, lies the bed of an ancient, dried-out lake which every July becomes home to the Big Red Bash, the largest remote music festival in the world. The festival has featured well-known artists such as Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes and Missy Higgins. Now coming into its seventh year, the …

In our rather cynical age, people frequently ask: “Is there really anything left to explore or discover … hasn’t it all been done before?” Spend some time with Blackheath ecologist Wyn Jones and you’ll soon have your answer … you’ll begin to feel the welling up of curiosity, excitement and anticipation that must have driven explorers, from the beginning of time, to head out into the unknown. …

  The tiny village of Bell, on the junction of the Bells Line of Road, Chifley Road and the Darling Causeway, at the most north-western tip of the City of the Blue Mountains, has become a new destination for pilgrims. Carrying rocks all the way from Emu Plains to Bell, on the 7-day Epiphany Pilgrimage, or the Way of the Magi, the pilgrims are commemorating the Christian …

  Children see things differently. Not only are they a little closer to the ground than your average adult, but so many of the things they encounter are being experienced for the first time. With eyes wide open, their minds absorb every little detail. So when Jacqueline Reid, from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, began working with schoolchildren to …

  For over ten years Lithgow High School Filmmakers have been making award winning films that have been screened all over the world with high regard. Their talented teacher and Blackheath resident, Sean O’Keeffe, has involved these young filmmakers with the wider community and with the Blackheath community in particular … from the multi-award winning “Wind Girl” in 2009, to “Bullets to Buttons” in …

OK I admit it, I’ve got shed envy! I’ve now been to the Blackheath Area Men’s Shed four times and each time I’ve found it more difficult to leave than the last. I’m not sure what I envy the most … the beautiful, neatly organised walls of tools and various workshops with projects underway …  like the second time I came and …