South Mountain Pass

Archive for the ‘blue mountain’ Category

The Blue Mountains, just 2hrs from Sydney, is an area of vast wilderness, romantic and peaceful accommodation, fine dining, indulgent shopping, awe-inspiring caves and magnificent national parks. With numerous lookouts, you can enjoy the elegant scenic views of towering escarpments and plummeting waterfalls. The start of the Blue Mountains includes the beautiful villages of Lapstone, Blaxland, Glenbrook, Springwood and Lawson. This area features lovely waterfalls, swimming holes, national park walks and art & craft galleries. On the far reaches of the Blue Mountains, Lithgow & Oberon provides the gateway to the wonders of New South Wales Explorer Country and hosts the Jenolan Caves and Kanangra Walls.

Our wide range of Blue Mountains accommodation lets you explore all the area has to offer: From bushwalking and horse riding, to abseiling and rock sports; from vineyards, to culinary delights; from art galleries, to beautiful scenery and places of Aboriginal cultural significance. We have Blue Mountains luxurious hotels, bed and breakfasts, retreats, health spas, self-catering apartments, and guest houses to suit every budget and holiday need.

Whether taking a bushwalk or the Scenic Skway cable car, our Blue Mountains accommodation is a great base for exploring the breathtaking natural beauty of the area, especially the Jamison Valley, which includes the Three Sisters, Katoomba Falls and Mount Solitary. The rugged pristine environment can also be enjoyed and appreciated by taking a paddle wheeler cruise along the scenic Nepean gorge or an abseiling or adventure tour in The Jenolan Caves. Our Blue Mountains accommodation, cottages and holiday homes also make a perfect base for appreciating the art and culture of the area: from antique centres, to arts and crafts displays; from the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum, to Casey’s vineyard, which specializes in cool climate wine.

The pioneering spirit of the great land can be appreciated at the Megalong Australian Heritage Centre, which is a celebration of Australian rural life where you can learn how to crack a whip, muster, milk a cow and shear a sheep. The Zig Zag Railway is also a stunning monument to the pioneering spirit. Built in the 1860s to enable travelers to be taken to Sydney from the Blue Mountains, the railway was regarded as one of the engineering wonders of the Victorian age. Our Blue Mountains accommodation acts as a great base for exploring the area’s rich Aboriginal cultural history. The history behind the Three Sisters rock formation is explained by Aboriginal dreamtime myth of three sisters of the Katoomba tribe who fell in love with three brothers of the neighboring Nepean tribe. The unions, where was not permitted under tribal law, and so when a tribal battle broke out a witchdoctor turned the three sisters to stone in an effort to protect them. The spell was unable to be reversed after the witchdoctor was killed and the rock formations of the Three Sisters stand as a reminder of the battle to future generations.

Our Blue Mountains accommodation is great for enjoying one of the area’s various festivals: From the celebration of the change of seasons in late June, the Winter Magic Festival; to celebrations of music, the Blue Mountains Music Festival featuring folk, roots and blues and the Kowmung Music festival, which features chamber music and jazz in unusual venues like limestone caves and cattle sheds.

BookBlueMountains.com.au offers different styles and varieties of accommodation: Whichever you choose, the style is warm, welcoming, and refreshing – the service friendly and informal. So book your accommodation online through our site to receive the best rates available on the web!

Blue Mountain coffee comes from the mountains of Jamaica.  Blue Mountain coffee is known for its mildness and a distinct lack of bitterness. Over time, it has become the most expensive coffee in the world, and the most sought after. Besides making incredible brewed coffee, the Blue Mountain coffee bean is used as a base for the famous Tia Maria coffee liqueur.

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are located between Kingston and Port Maria. Rising to an impressive height of 7,402 feet, the climate is cool and misty, and gets a lot of rainfall. The soil is rich and drains well… an ideal situation in which to grow coffee. Coffee beans were first brought to Jamaica in 1728 by the Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes.

Once the beans are harvested, they are pulped and washed. The beans are then dried and cured for at least twenty weeks. Next, the beans go through a sorting process. Only a very few countries besides Jamaica allow the coffee beans to age at least six weeks. Aging improves consistency among the beans. Before exporting, the coffee is checked for appearance, and some is taste tested to insure quality.

As with other varieties of coffee around the world, there are several different grades of Blue Mountain coffee. For Grade 1, which is the best quality, 96% of the beans must fit a 17/20 screen size. No more than 2% of the coffee beans can have significant defects.

For Grade 2, 96% of the beans must fit a 16/17 screen size. No more than 2% of the beans may have any significant defects. There is also a Grade 3, a Blue Mountain peaberry, and a Blue Mountain Triage, which is a combination of the top three grades.

There is quite a lot of interesting trivia about Blue Mountain coffee. Many commercial coffee blends add a bit of Blue Mountain coffee to enrich the quality of their blend. Due to the strength of the Blue Mountain coffee beans, more cups of coffee can be made for the money. And even James Bond loves Blue Mountain coffee. The author of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming, lived in Jamaica for a part of every year. In his book, “Live and Let Die,” he has James Bond sitting to breakfast declaring, “Blue Mountain coffee, the most delicious in the world…”

In 1988, Jamaica lost a great deal of its coffee industry, due to damage from Hurricane Gilbert. It is just recently that production has been restored to previous levels for this unique coffee.

Out of all the coffee lovers in the world, Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee. They invest a lot into the coffee industry, and they import approximately 80% of the Blue Mountain coffee crop every year. The rest of the world wrangles over the remainder. And is it worth the fight? Anyone who has tasted it would say yes. Blue Mountain coffee is sweet, smooth and mellow… all in all, an excellent cup of coffee.

Blue Mountain coffee comes from the mountains of Jamaica.  Blue Mountain coffee is known for its mildness and a distinct lack of bitterness. Over time, it has become the most expensive coffee in the world, and the most sought after. Besides making incredible brewed coffee, the Blue Mountain coffee bean is used as a base for the famous Tia Maria coffee liqueur.

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are located between Kingston and Port Maria. Rising to an impressive height of 7,402 feet, the climate is cool and misty, and gets a lot of rainfall. The soil is rich and drains well… an ideal situation in which to grow coffee. Coffee beans were first brought to Jamaica in 1728 by the Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes.

Once the beans are harvested, they are pulped and washed. The beans are then dried and cured for at least twenty weeks. Next, the beans go through a sorting process. Only a very few countries besides Jamaica allow the coffee beans to age at least six weeks. Aging improves consistency among the beans. Before exporting, the coffee is checked for appearance, and some is taste tested to insure quality.

As with other varieties of coffee around the world, there are several different grades of Blue Mountain coffee. For Grade 1, which is the best quality, 96% of the beans must fit a 17/20 screen size. No more than 2% of the coffee beans can have significant defects.

For Grade 2, 96% of the beans must fit a 16/17 screen size. No more than 2% of the beans may have any significant defects. There is also a Grade 3, a Blue Mountain peaberry, and a Blue Mountain Triage, which is a combination of the top three grades.

There is quite a lot of interesting trivia about Blue Mountain coffee. Many commercial coffee blends add a bit of Blue Mountain coffee to enrich the quality of their blend. Due to the strength of the Blue Mountain coffee beans, more cups of coffee can be made for the money. And even James Bond loves Blue Mountain coffee. The author of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming, lived in Jamaica for a part of every year. In his book, “Live and Let Die,” he has James Bond sitting to breakfast declaring, “Blue Mountain coffee, the most delicious in the world…”

In 1988, Jamaica lost a great deal of its coffee industry, due to damage from Hurricane Gilbert. It is just recently that production has been restored to previous levels for this unique coffee.

Out of all the coffee lovers in the world, Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee. They invest a lot into the coffee industry, and they import approximately 80% of the Blue Mountain coffee crop every year. The rest of the world wrangles over the remainder. And is it worth the fight? Anyone who has tasted it would say yes. Blue Mountain coffee is sweet, smooth and mellow… all in all, an excellent cup of coffee.