This year, Sydney Harbour was named one of Australia’s National
Landscapes, highlighting the natural wonders that dot the region

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/travel/walking-on-sydneys-wild-side.html?src=dayp

The blue-tongued lizard eyed me suspiciously but remained still
long enough for photographs, while a kookaburra laughed and a diminutive wallaby
rustled in the brush. Rock engravings of fish and kangaroos marked ceremonial
sites of Aboriginal ancestors. Scented forests of eucalyptus and gum trees
shaded our path over sandstone and thin topsoil, classic Outback topography
surprisingly concealed on the outskirts of Sydney.

“We’re six kilometers from the largest city in Australia, but you look around,
and you’re in the bush,” said my guide, Ian Wells, gazing at the tangle of
branches above the trail.

More specifically that August morning, my family and I were hiking in the
suburbs of Sydney on a 7.5-mile route between Spit Bridge in Mosman and the
beach town Manly, combing the north shore of Sydney Harbour, a natural asset
celebrated by everyone from Capt. James Cook in the 18th century to fans of the
harbor front Sydney Opera House, but largely unsung as a coastal wilderness
until recently.

In February, Sydney Harbour was named the country’s newest National Landscape,
calling attention to the wild side in Sydney’s metropolitan area of 4.6 million
residents. It encompasses a 620-square-mile expanse of beaches, rivers, islands
and bushland, ranging from Royal National Park in the south to the Barrenjoey
Headland in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east and Parramatta Park to the
west. Other National Landscapes include the Great Barrier Reef and the Red
Centre, the country’s desert center and home to the famous rock formation Uluru.