Discover Blue Mountains 20 - The deadly hanging garden lies on the180 metre high Bridal Veil Falls.

Meat-eating plants seem so exotic you might imagine them deep in the Amazon or the rainforests of Borneo. But in fact the UNESCO world heritage Blue Mountains National Park boasts the most diverse range of carnivorous plants in the world, with nearly 240 species. Along the trail from Govetts Leap to Horseshoe Falls on the Emu Trekkers Blue Mountains hike, you’ll spot several varieties of carnivorous plants, including the world’s largest and most impressive display of Drosera Binata, or “sundews”.
Glittering in the sunshine in huge, undulating waves of dewy, golden menace, they hug the moist cliffs beneath the spectacular 180 metre high Bridal Veil Falls. Looking like something from a James Cameron epic they hang poised ominously above the valley floor, sticky tentacles extended to lure their prey. Insects are blown along the sheer cliff face, and with year round moisture and lack of competition, the sundew have an ample source of sustenance.
Conventional plants draw their nutrients from the soil, but Australia’s ancient landscapes, leached of nutrients over millions of years, have forced plants to evolve and diversify or die. Sundews have developed an ingenious method of survival and are able to grow in areas like sheer rock faces where other plants don’t have a chance.
Once an insect lands on the sundew, it is fatally ensnared, like quicksand. As it struggles to escape, the tentacles on the leaves move in to help hold the prey and it becomes more and more stuck in its treacly coffin. Digestive enzymes are released and the nutriment is absorbed by the plant. Like a slow motion Berocca in a glass of water, they are dissolved alive from the inside out.
Along the trail you’re able to get up close and personal with the sundews. Although perennial, they are best seen from spring to late summer, Mr Bourke says. “Look for trapped prey and how the plant holds it to the leaf. Also look out for Sundew Bugs, tiny insects that can move freely on the sundew’s leaves and feed on the captured prey.”
But the Binata aren’t the only carnivorous species in the area. Across the cliff faces, clinging to the sandstone boulders, in pockets of scrub and moist areas or puddles along the trail, you’ll discover a wide variety of insect-eaters, which have all evolved to survive in a range of nutrient-poor habitats.