the site most desirable for retention. Existing trees were marked to be kept, only mishapen or damaged ones were to be removed. Sorensen must have been keenly aware of the opportunities to exploit the dramatic outlook over the Jamison Valley from the lower part of the site. The view of distant cliffs and valley floor carpeted with dense eucalpyt forest, all softened by the gentle atmospheric blueness so characteristic of the mountains, was one to stir the imagination of all but the most unromantic. Sorensen decision not to use this view as part of the formal garden but to limit intensive development to the area previously disturbed for the orchard was made very early in the design stage. The fact that this view could not be obtained from any of the formal terraces must have seem strange to many people, but this decision was in line with Sorensen's belief that it was wrong to be able to perceive the total of his design from any point and that element of surprise that would come from arrival at his lookout points would add an incredible quality of delight to the garden. He also realised that the grandeur of the scene was such that it would be out of scale with anything he could construct and that it was possible that any attempt to make this view a dominant feature in the formal part of the garden would detract from both the view and the garden. Apart from the problems of the slope, the other major difficulty encountered was the thinness and rocky nature of the soil. The very factors that made the Blue Mountains such a desirable destination for the holiday maker- the spectacular cliffs and the rugged grandeur of the scenery- created immense problems for the garden builder. The whole area was formed from sandstone, which belongs to the Narabeen group of Triassic sandstones. Much of the stones character comes from its richness in iron oxide which gives it its rich, dark red or purple coloured narrow bands and layers which, over eons have been warped by geological movement. The iron oxide makes the layers containing it much harder than the surrounding stone so that with erosion of the softer stone the so-called ironstone is exposed on cliff faces in quite incredible forms ranging from flat stones through curves to tubes. The soils formed from this parent material are very