THE FIRST STATE

NEW SOUTH WALES

From Sub-tropical rainforests in the north to Snowy Mountains in the south and 1300km of coast line dotted with golden beaches all along the East coast, makes NSW a very diverse state and extremely popular among holiday makers.

New South Wales is the most populous state in Australia and is home to Australia's biggest city Sydney (pop 3.7 million) but it also has it's share of agricultural areas, dry flat land and even desert.

Sydney:           
Click here to read more about Sydney.
Although its capital city may be the ultimate urban experience, New South Wales plays virtually all of the continent's rural and coastal variations: historical towns, mountain ranges, seductive sands, subtropical rain forest, and a vineyard-strewn river valley. For sport, it provides in turn hiking, scuba diving, fishing, skiing, trail riding, cave exploring, and white-water rafting.

Sydney harbour is arguably the most beautiful in the world and the eastern coastline has many beautiful beaches such as, Bondi, Manly and Coogee just to name a few. Whether you go for a cruise on the harbour (the Manly Ferry is recommended) or just walk along Circular Quay and The Rocks near the Opera House you will no doubt be impressed with this city.

The Opera house and Sydney Harbour bridge.
Click here to read more about Sydney.

West of Sydney is the Blue Mountains , and beyond that you start to venture into the endless Australian Outback. Further inland is the Great Dividing Range, that stretches all the way from far north Queensland, straight trough NSW down to Victoria. It is here, squeezed between the Great Dividing Range and the sea, averaging just around 150 kilometres in width, that most of the population of the country's most popular state lives. 

Blue Mountains - Just a couple of hours drive from Sydney.

To the north, pushing up against the lush subtropical and tropical expanse of south-eastern Queensland, the climate along the coast is hot, often steamy in summer and balmy in winter. 

South of Sydney starting in from the city of Wollongong the coast becomes an ideal holiday playground with steady temperatures and gentle winters. The central coast and southern coast from Sydney to the Victorian border are very warm in summer, tending to quite cold and wet in winter.

Australian Capital Territory

In the south east end of NSW we find the Australian Capital Territory and our nations capital Canberra. Canberra that until early twentieth century was little more than a sheep station, was 1908 chosen to become our new seat of parliament, to end rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne.

Surrounded by bushland and mountain terrain still lacking an international airport heavy traffic and skyscrapers, Canberra has a serenity and a country charm suited for picnicking and bushwalking.  

NSW CLIMATE   

NSW lies in the temperate zone and the climate is generally free from extremes of heat and cold. The greatest heat is usually experienced in the north west; a shade temperature of more than 51 deg C has been recorded at Bourke. The coldest region is the Snowy Mountains, where winter frosts and snow are experienced over long periods.
Rainfall varies widely over the state, gradually diminishing to an annual average of 180mm in the far north west.

Of all the states, New South Wales has the greatest variety of climate and environment. In contrast, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and western Queensland are dominated by vast tracts of dry, near-desert landscape - once the exclusive province of the original Australians, the Aborigines, whose presence there was the lightest and most sensitive of all occupations.

Didn't find what you are looking for?

QUICK FACTS

State Capital: Sydney
Population: 6,070,000

Average Temperatures:
Sydney
January maximum, 25.8 C
 July maximum, 16.1  C.

Average Annual Rainfall - Sydney: 1,224 mm

Articles and travel stories from NSW:

Tropical New South Wales The area boasts the worlds second largest extinct volcano and is home to 3 of Australia’s World Heritage listed National Parks. Get Wet whilst you Work David Savage recommends Sydney for holiday work and perhaps getting you scuba diving license --- All Articles All reader stories

Sydney

North of Sydney

Canberra
Murray River
Other places

New South Wales Map

GET YOUR TRAVEL GUIDES HERE:

Click on the picture for more info.

Lonely Planet - NSW

  Lonely Planet Sydney (4th Ed)