New South Wales

New South Wales is the oldest and most populous state in the country. NSW is the cradle of the Australian nation and, to a large extent, all things Australian can be found here. 'From the Murray's green basin to the dusty Outback' goes the song and that sums up NSW. The images we conjure of Australia are all here. You can surf, ski, see green pastures or the desolate outback, this is where the convicts first landed, this is where the iconic Aussie city of Sydney resides. NSW may not be the largest state but, as far as significance and influence go, it is and always has been the biggest.

Captain Cook named the area on his explorations of the 1770's. When Britain was looking for another place to 'home' its convict population, (the Americans, having declared independence, somewhat unreasonably said they didn't want any more immigrant criminals) Australia seemed the ideal place. In 1788, the first convicts arrived, although they were aiming for Botany Bay, they actually landed in Sydney harbour. These 'First Fleeter' struggled in the early stages of settlement but as the fertile lands to the west of the Blue Mountains were opened up and non-convict settlers moved in, so the Australian nation began to stabilise and form.

NSW has gorgeous scenery, especially in the Blue and Snowy Mountain ranges and over 750 miles of South Pacific coastline. Sydney aside, NSW also has some great towns to visit.