The loopy train ride through a great untouched wilderness, right on our doorstep

Key points

• The Royal National Park, created in 1879 between southern Sydney and northern Wollongong, is described as a valuable green space. The columnist recalls a late-night train stopping at the now-closed Lilyvale station.
• A rail line through the forest was completed about 10 years after the park was gazetted, allowing people in the Illawarra to reach home by train from Sydney. The writer notes the park's value has grown as much of the continent's forest has been cleared.
• Writers D H Lawrence and Robert Louis Stevenson have also described views of the train route.