Richmond

On a bend in the wide and beautiful Hawkesbury River, 64km west of Sydney's CBD, Richmond is one of the five towns in the upper Hawkesbury Valley that Governor Macquarie founded in 1810 to help feed his undernourished, fledgling colony (the other towns are Windsor, Castlereagh, Wilberforce and Pitt Town).

This peaceful, scenic town plays host to the big Richmond RAAF base, the oldest in Australia, and the renowned Richmond Estate Winery, as well as the Hawkesbury racecourse.

Nearby are the foothills of the Blue Mountains which can be accessed through Kurrajong Heights and the apple town of Bilpin.

The Blue Mountains National Park, just a short drive away, is one of Australia"s great natural wonders - a place of extraordinary geographical beauty which has been highly and, generally speaking, tastefully developed to cater for the plethora of tourists who visit each year. The 216,000ha park is the fourth largest National Park in New South Wales.