New South Wales NSW

New South Wales

• New South Wales
• NSW Regions
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• Maps of NSW

Places to Visit

• NSW Places to Visit
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Sydney Surrounds

• Blue Mountains
• Central Coast NSW
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Central NSW

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• Centre of Central NSW
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• NSW Outback
• Exploring The Outback - Warnings

North Coast NSW

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• North Coast NSW
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Snowy Mountains

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South Coast

• South Coast NSW
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• Eurobodalla
• Sapphire Coast
• Shoalhaven, South Coast

Popular Attractions

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NSW Photos

• Touring the South Coast - Sapphire Coast
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• Canberra ACT
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See map of New South Wales NSW Maps or the Weather Far West NSW Weather.

New South Wales Outback

The New South Wales Outback is both an amazing and memorable place to visit. Along with the many historical mining towns, some with underground motels, you can experience vast deserts, Aboriginal heritage and quirky local characters.

Places to Visit

Places to visit in the NSW Outback and worth exploring include Mungo National Park, located in the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area and the Mount Grenfell Historic Site.

Broken Hill, nicknamed the Silver City, Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs are attractions on their own. Opals, High-grade silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold have been found in the region, and a recent ore find has once increased activity in the region.

Lightning Ridge

Following the discovery of opal in the 1890s, the town of Lightning Ridge in the Outback became synonymous with opals, particularly black opal. You can even explore some of the town’s older non-operational mines, allow tourists to descend underground on guided tours.

At Lightning Ridge’s Artesian Bore Baths the potassium-enriched water, claimed to be beneficial for rheumatic and arthritic pain, flows from deep underground into an outdoor pool at a constant temperature of 42°C.

Golfers should attempt the Lightning Ridge’s ‘country’ golf course and bring the camera. For events, The Lightning Ridge Rodeo is a two day event held in April. The stands are packed with locals and visitors cheering the cowboys and cowgirls demonstrating their many skills.

White Cliffs

Another town known for its Opal is the town of White Cliffs. Most of the 200+ residents have made their homes in modernized dugouts, the remains of old opal mines. Visitors can even stay in an underground hotel or bed and breakfast. Here, the older abandoned opal diggings have created a landscape reminiscent of the moons surface.

Mount Grenfell Historic Site

At the Mount Grenfell Historic Site, you can find hundreds of examples of ancient aboriginal art inscribed on the rock walls and overhangs. Painted in the traditional red, yellow and ochre colours, these sites have been used in religious ceremony and for teaching their children for thousands of years.

Mungo National Park

Another incomparable area in Outback New South Wales is Mungo National Park, 150 km north-west of Balranald and centre of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage region. Humans have occupied this area for at least 40,000 years.

Up until about 19,000 years ago, the lakes were full of deep, fresh water. Along the shoreline, The Barkindji people camped, feasting on freshwater mussels and catching golden perch and Murray cod. Due to climate change, the lakes here completely dried up and the Willandra Lakes have been dry ever since.

Walls of China

Wind and water erosion, helped sculpt the remarkable 33-km-long Walls of China natural rock formation. The clay and sand that packed up against this natural wall over the centuries has provided scientists with a time capsule, recording the many past climatic variations. The region has been inscribed on the World Heritage list since 1981.

Backpacker Adventure

A memorable outback experience for backpackers and visitors to New South Wales consists of working for a time as a jackaroo or jillaroo (cowboy or cowgirl) for an outback cattle station.

Jackaroo schools are holiday based - participants are generally backpackers and many are visiting Australia under the reciprocal Working Holiday Maker (WHM) scheme.

A classic example is the Leconfield Jackaroo and Jillaroo School, a working property of 4600 acres, set in the hillside country of the Mulla Creek area in northern New South Wales. Phone +061 2 6769 4230 for more information.

Outback Accommodation

Along with caravan parks, motels, chances to camp, there are hotels and self contained apartments in the towns including Lighting Ridge, Broken Hill and White Cliffs as well as the surrounding towns. There are also try the Bed and Breakfasts, Pub stays and Farm stays.

Regions of NSW

North East Coast