Only road to famous gardens used for The Great Gatsby shut for a year

Only road to Blue Mountains villages closed to visitors for another year Mon 27 Jul 2026 at 6:01am In short: The only road into Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine in the Blue Mountains was shut to visitors in early April due to significant instability and will not be fixed until July 2027. The closure has left business operators in the area facing substantial losses. What's Next? The Blue Mountains City Council will finish the reconstruction design this month and aims to appoint a contractor by October. The garden estates and nut farms of Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine attract thousands of visitors and have provided the backdrop for television shows and movies such as Baz Luhrmann's 2013 film The Great Gatsby. But the only road into the two Blue Mountains communities about a two-hour drive west of Sydney remains closed to visitors and will not be fixed until July next year. Owner of the Kookatonga Chestnut and Walnut Farm at Mount Irvine, Mark Bancroft, estimated his business had lost about $100,000 since the road was shut to general traffic three months ago "We're scratching our heads to work out how we will survive having another season cut from under us," he said. Mr Bancroft said the farm made about 80 per cent of its annual income during autumn, which is the peak season for tourists attracted by the changing leaves. It operates as a "pick-your-own" experience and does not have cool rooms and graders to package its crop for markets and wholesale buyers. "We've had 30 years of building the business into the pick-your-own business and it's not an easy pivot for us to make," he said. "It would cost a substantial amount of money to set up for that — and we're not getting any income." The Mount Wilson Road has been closed to all but local traffic since rain caused significant instability at a hairpin bend. The Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) was recently awarded $8.2 million in disaster recovery funding to fix the problem but does not expect to finish construction until the end of July next year. While residents can use the road in the meantime, visitors cannot unless they are essential workers or providing urgent compassionate care. 'No-one to talk to' Owner of the Windyridge Nursery and Garden at Mount Wilson, Rodger Davidson, said he had lost up to $50,000 in cancelled weddings, events and loss of visitors. "The bills keep rolling for the garden with no income," he said. "So what I have to do is use some of my personal income to try to support the garden. "That's not great when you're retired." Mr Davidson said his daughter was concerned for his welfare running the garden alone after his wife died about five years ago. "I said, 'I'm fine because I've got people coming in … we can talk about the garden, the plants and how to grow them,'" he said. "Now … I go and have dinner with my next-door neighbour and he's 101. "We get to see nobody and get to talk to nobody." Majority of money made in autumn Vice-president of the Mount Wilson Progress Association, James Douglas, said local businesses relied on the autumn season, which attracts up to 1,500 visitor vehicles each weekend. "If we're closed for two autumns in a row, that means that all the businesses in Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine will have missed two years' worth of revenue," he said. BMCC chief executive Rosemary Dillon said in a statement that the council acknowledged the "significant" impact the closure was having on residents. She said it was hoped the road reconstruction would finish sooner than scheduled. "Council is making every effort to fast-track this critical work while ensuring the safety of our community," the statement said.