where is the blue mountains located in australia
Blue Mountains (New South Wales) The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 kilometres (31Â mi) west of the state capital.[4] The public's understanding of the extent of the Blue Mountains is varied, as it forms only part of an extensive mountainous area associated with the Great Dividing Range. Officially the Blue Mountains region is bounded by the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers in the east, the Coxs River and Lake Burragorang to the west and south, and the Wolgan and Colo rivers to the north.[5] Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin.[6]
Australia (continent) The Australian continent, being part of the Indo-Australian plate, is the lowest, flattest, and oldest landmass on Earth[3] and it has had a relatively stable geological history. New Zealand is not part of the continent of Australia, but of the separate, submerged continent of Zealandia.[4] New Zealand and Australia are both part of the Oceanian sub-region known as Australasia, with New Guinea being in Melanesia. The term Oceania is often used to denote the region encompassing the Australian continent, Zealandia and various islands in the Pacific Ocean that are not included in the seven-continent model.[5][6]