75.Reids Plateau Lookout:

75.Reids Plateau Lookout:

Location: On Katoomba cliff-line 150m southwest of Scenic World Kiosk on Katoomba Falls Road (Cliff Drive). Access via track immediately south of Scenic World Kiosk. On return journey take short left cliff-to few rainforest vegetation.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 904m AHD;-33.7290,150.3002;

Time required at site: 30 min if taking in the view, add an additional 2 hours if including a walk down the Furber steps around to the Katoomba Falls.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: Whilst Cox’s Road is around 2 kilometres north of this plateau, it was the escarpment and other landforms that constrained its construction to the relatively narrow ridge between the Cox’s River Valley to the south and the Grose River Valley to the north (See Maps 1 & 2). The stored water from the pervious layers of sandstone that was filtered and held back via hanging and valley swamps made it possible for Europeans and their stock to negotiate the upland ridge. The rainforest pockets remind us of the vegetation that was once dominant in the Blue Mountains, and puts Cox’s Road in an appropriate perspective as a very recent layer in time. The view ‘supposedly’ also takes in Pitts Amphitheatre, the subject of one of Lewin’s 1815 paintings somewhere near this location, indicating that he left Cox’s Road to sketch the amphitheatre. The escarpment cliffs with their brilliant and changing colours were objects of awe for early explorers and travellers
as they continue to be today.

Center map
Traffic
Bicycling
Transit
My location
Get Directions