The Watagan Mountains and the Central Coast Hinterland

The Watagan Mountains, the forested upland that rises immediately west of the Central Coast's coastal plain, provide the bushwalking, mountain biking, and nature escape destination that the region's residents access for the cool, forested environment that the beach suburbs cannot offer. The Watagans' combination of the eucalypt forests of the upper slopes, the wet sclerophyll communities of the sheltered gullies, and the views east across the coastal plain to the lakes and the sea creates the landscape diversity that day walkers and the camping visitors who use the national park's facilities find in the forests immediately behind the coast.

Yengo National Park, the large wilderness park that extends across the Central Coast and Hunter Valley hinterland, protects one of the most significant Aboriginal cultural landscapes in NSW, with hundreds of rock engraving sites, axe grinding grooves, and ceremonial places documenting the long human occupation of the country that the Darkinjung and Awabakal peoples maintained for thousands of years. The park's combination of the cultural heritage values and the wilderness landscape quality, including the cedar gullies and the spectacular sandstone gorge country of the park's interior, makes it one of the most significant national parks in the Sydney basin region.

The Dharug and Yengo national parks' connection to the network of walking tracks that extends across the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, and Hunter Valley national parks creates the opportunity for extended wilderness walking that the coastal forests and the national parks of the immediate coast cannot provide. The extended track network, including the Great North Walk that connects Sydney to Newcastle through the national parks of the Sydney basin and lower Hunter, passes through the Central Coast hinterland and provides the multi-day walking experience that the region's outdoor recreation infrastructure supports.

The hinterland towns of Kulnura, Mangrove Mountain, and the plateau communities above the coastal escarpment provide the rural character and the farm gate produce that the coastal population accesses for the orchards, dairy farms, and the farm stalls that the plateau's agricultural production sustains. The combination of the horticultural production, particularly the citrus and subtropical fruit that the plateau's climate supports, and the views east to the coast and west to the mountains creates the rural landscape that makes the hinterland a valued complement to the coastal identity that defines the region.