The spectacular views from one of Australia's most visited beauty spots left the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge declaring they will return some day The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge experienced the full majesty of Australia's Blue Mountains today when they visited a rock formation revered by Aborigines. The couple were given a guided tour of the Three Sisters rock pillars in Katoomba, so called because native Australian legend says they are three sisters who were turned to stone. The couple described the landscape as "beautiful" and said they would like to return one day with Prince George. Anthea Hammon, joint managing director of Scenic World, which runs the visitor centre at the beauty spot, acted as the Duchess's guide, while the Duke spoke to Randall Walker, chief executive of Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism. Miss Hammon said: "Kate said it was beautiful and it was amazing, she asked how far you can see and I told her about 100 kilometres. She was amazed how far you could see. "She loved it, and it is a pretty stunning day after all, so it's hard not to like. "I was talking to her a little bit about bush walking because she likes walking, and she said she would be keen to come back one day. "It was really nice to share our little piece of the world with the royal couple." A crowd of around 2,000 had gathered at the Echo Point to greet the royal couple. Echo Point, around 90 minutes drive from Sydney, gives panoramic views of the Three Sisters and is one of the most visited beauty spots in Australia. According to Aboriginal legend, three sisters called Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo fell in love with three brothers from a rival tribe. Unable to marry because of tribal law, the brothers decided to go into battle against the sisters' tribe to capture them by force. A witch doctor is said to have turned the sisters to stone to save them from being harmed in the battle, but he was killed in the fighting and could not reverse the spell. The Blue Mountains, which start around 30 miles outside Sydney, are so called because of a blue haze that hangs over them, caused by light refracting off eucalyptus oil in the air. The couple's bodyguards plucked a group of young girls from the crowd to meet the royal visitors. Among them was Ellie Girdler, five, dressed in a pink party dress. She said of the Duchess: "She had a really lovely voice like she was from another country. She took my honeycomb that I had made for Prince George. She had lovely long hair that was brown and a really pretty dress. It was kind of black and white. I was very excited to meet a real life princess." Her grandfather Cliff Smith, 67, added: "Their bodyguard suddenly came over and lifted up Ellie and said 'do you mind?'. "At first I wondered what he was up to but he explained he wanted Ellie to present her gifts to the Duchess. It was such an honour. We will never forget it." Ainslie Zakis, 12, was also picked. She said: "She was telling me what she and Prince William were doing next week including going to Taronga Zoo. She told me about George and said he was very cute but very, very loud and that she was scared he might scare the animals there." The couple posed for pictures at the beauty spot and were introduced to three Aboriginal Elders, representing the Indigenous landowners of Echo Point. They presented them with a possum cloak, made from seven pelts, for Prince George and a kangaroo skin one for themselves. Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/ Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.

• published: 17 Apr 2014
• views: 110