Just south of Sydney, the Royal is the second-oldest national park in the world, gazetted in 1879, and a remarkable stretch of coast, heath and rainforest an hour from the city. Its clifftop Coast Track runs past hidden beaches, the wave-cut platform at Wedding Cake Rock and the Figure Eight Pools, while inland the Hacking River threads rainforest gullies rich in lyrebirds. Wildflowers blaze across the heath in spring and whales pass offshore in season. Reached by road or by the little ferry at Bundeena, it is Sydney's great natural backyard - wild and various within sight of the city.