The Blue Mountains are one of Australia's most glorious natural areas. They were on fire in 2019, but they've bounced back… and are only from Sydney

The Blue Mountains are not technically mountains, and they are certainly not blue. But it is one of Australia's most glorious natural areas – with soaring rocky peaks and lush bushland teeming with wildlife.

About an hour's drive from Sydney, they offer an escape from the bustling city and a taste of Australia that many tourists never see. In 2019, the region was hit by disastrous forest fires, but has recovered remarkably well.

I spent a day with experienced guide Paul Hartmann and his Yorkshire-born wife Jenny, who founded Blue Mountains Eco Tours in 2013.

We drove in a sturdy Land Rover Discovery to Grose Valley, more than 900 meters above sea level.

“Regular buses are not allowed on these fire trails, for fear they will damage the fragile ecology,” Paul said as we bumped past mountainous land bursting with native shrubs and plants such as banksia, mountain devil, solar wattle and eucalyptus.

She reveals that visitors can climb atop the cable car, which hangs almost 1,000 feet above the valley floor below. “It's a crazy undertaking,” she says

The landscape is overwhelming in its grandeur and wildness. After a mile-long hike along a dramatic ridge and lunch overlooking the gorge, we continue.

But it isn't until late afternoon in the Megalong Valley that we experience the highlight of our day: kangaroos and wallabies, dozens of them, peacefully feeding on grasses in the fading light as we sip wine next to a crackling fire.

There's an even bigger challenge the next day as I head to the Scenic World tourist attraction, which in 2022 began giving visitors the chance to climb atop a cable car suspended nearly 1,000 feet above the valley floor below.

We were greeted by Aboriginal Gundungurra man David King, who conducts a 'smoking ceremony' to welcome us to this part of the country, as the Aboriginal people call their country.

I was then harnessed in and fitted with a safety helmet, while a number of metal mountings dangled loose – later clipping me onto the roof of the cable car.

'The landscape is overwhelming in its grandeur and wildness,' writes Jo. Above, Hanging Rock, one of the viewpoints in the mountains

It takes about an hour to drive from Sydney to the mountain range. Above, early morning sky over Pulpit Rock lookout

Jo remembers seeing kangaroos and wallabies when he passed through Megalong Valley

It's a crazy undertaking, but I was surprisingly calm – perhaps because of the banter from safety man Rob, who is also a part-time firefighter.

Climbing from the car to the roof is a breathtaking moment. But the view over the canyons is astonishing. There was no sound other than the distant screech of a flock of cockatoos.

Back in Sydney, excitement was building for the Vivid Sydney festival, which dramatically highlights the city's natural and architectural beauty with thousands of lights and projections casting a glow over gardens and monuments.

This year it will take place from May 24 to June 15.

My journey had started with an unusual perk: a business class flight with Etihad. We ate (when we chose), we slept comfortably, and enjoyed the least jet lag I've ever had on a trip to the Antipodes.

In the 1980s I lived in Australia for ten years, four of which were in Sydney. But for me, it's the city's proximity to the majestic Blue Mountains – where I got married in 1992 – that makes it so special.

Bushfires now threaten Australia annually, but the glory of the Blue Mountains has not only survived, but thrived.