Katoomba and Leura are two towns in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. Katoomba, 110 km west of Sydney and with a population of a bit under 8,000 people, is probably the principal town in the Blue Mountains and is the council's administrative seat. It's primarily a tourist town with people attracted by extensive rainforest, deep sandstone valleys, and features like the Three Sisters rock formation. A lot of this can be experienced through the Scenic World attraction which offers rides into the neighbouring Jamieson Valley, and an extensive set of walkways showing off both the natural forest and the relics of the former mining operations. (In the olden days, Katoomba was an important source of coal and shale.) It's worth visiting but be warned that queues, even just to get admission tickets much less access to the rides, can be ridiculously long at times, especially in school holidays. And why on earth they don't have a system of Web bookings I have no idea.

Leura is a suburb of Katoomba around 10km to the east, closer to Sydney. With a population of just under 4,400 it's more of a village than a city and is home to a number of resorts, guest houses and other attractions.