Eleven kilometres west of Glenbrook, SPRINGWOOD is home to many of the artists who have settled in the mountains, and there are numerous shops selling antiques and arts and crafts. Further west is FAULCONBRIDGE , where it's well worth visiting the exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Norman Lindsay Gallery , 14 Norman Lindsay Crescent (daily 10am-4pm; $7.70). The controversial artist and poet (1879-1969), whose nude studies scandalized Australia in the 1930s and whose story was told in the 1994 film Sirens (with Elle McPherson as one of the life models), spent the last part of his life here. He is also famous for his humorous children's tale, The Magic Pudding , made into a film in 2001; some of the streets around the gallery, such as Bill Barnacle Avenue, are named after its characters.

The small village of WENTWORTH FALLS was named after William Wentworth, one of the famous trio who conquered the mountains in 1813. A signposted road leads from the Great Western Highway to the Wentworth Falls Reserve , with superb views of the waterfall tumbling down into the Jamison Valley. You can reach this picnic area from Wentworth train station by following Darwin's Walk - the route followed by the famous naturalist in 1836. Of the view, which has changed little, Charles Darwin wrote, "If we imagine a winding harbour, with its deep water surrounded by bold cliff-like shores, laid dry, and a forest sprung up on its sandy bottom, we should then have the appearance and structure here exhibited. This kind of view was to me quite novel, and extremely magnificent." Most of the other bushwalks in the area start from the NPWS Valley of the Waters Conservation Hut (daily 9am-5pm; tel 02/4757 3827), about 3km from the station at the end of Fletcher Street. Bus services are infrequent; a taxi from the station costs about $7. The hut is in a fantastic location overlooking the Jamison Valley, and from its wonderful Conservation Hut Cafe you can take full advantage of the stupendous views through the big windows or from the deck outside; in winter an open fire crackles in the grate. A wide selection of bushwalks, detailed on boards outside, ranges from the two-hour Valley of the Waters track , which descends into the valley, to an extended two-day walk to Mount Solitary . One of the most rewarding is the quite strenuous, six-kilometre National Pass , a one-way walk which will conveniently get you back to the train station and takes in Wentworth Falls en route.