Wild at Heart

Stromlo Forest Park in Molonglo Valley, a 15-minute drive from the CBD, is a mountain-biking mecca. Its 50-plus kilometres of track offers 16 ways to descend Mount Stromlo, from double-black-diamond runs to cruisier sections for novices. “Green Evolution is a great trail for a family outing,” suggests Peta Longhurst, an instructor at Dynamic Motivation, which runs training sessions and a shuttle up the 770-metre-high mountain. “You will navigate fun flat corners with loose and slippery rocks and there’s a jump, which you can go around if you’re not confident.” Feeling brave? Try the blue-square flow trail Trebuchet. “It has lots of berms and rollable jumps.”

Red Hill Nature Reserve stretches over nearly 300 hectares along the eastern edge of the Woden Valley. One of the most delightful paths through this biodiverse wildlife corridor is The Red Track, a 3.2-kilometre loop where whitebanded bees and meadow argus butterflies flit among creamy candle flowers while gang-gang cockatoos squawk above. You won’t believe you’re only five kilometres from the CBD.

Skirting the NSW border at its northern tip and travelling as far south as the Murrumbidgee River, the epic Centenary Trail takes in major monuments and suburban lookouts before sweeping off into the wilderness that frames Canberra. Tackle the 145-kilometre loop by bike or on a seven-day walk (averaging about 20 kilometres per day). Alternatively, you can dip in and out on short trips. The popular One Tree Hill Summit trail starts and finishes in the town of Hall, a 20-minute drive north-west of the city. It’s a mostly gentle nine-kilometre amble on well-groomed dirt, winding in and out of wattle and eucalypt cover and through open grazing land. The summit unfurls knockout views of the Brindabella Range.

Sun-up (and sundown) is go time at Mount Ainslie Lookout, when 270-degree views of the National Triangle are burnished gold and orange. Drive or cycle your way there, or walk the Kokoda Track, a 4.5-kilometre-return sealed trail that connects Remembrance Nature Park (near the Australian War Memorial) to Mount Ainslie’s summit. Along the way, a series of switchbacks through shrubby scribbly gums gives way to a meandering path with a gentle incline and few steps. When you hear glossy black cockatoos making a ruckus atop some drooping she-oaks, you’ll know you’re almost there.

Before starting out on the self-guided Heritage Trail from Mount Stromlo Observatory, the HQ of the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, download the ANU Walks smartphone app. Stories of the site’s destruction in the 2003 bushfires and wartime military secondment bring history to life. But the real action is up above. Ngunnawal people watched the sky from Stromlo for millennia before the first observatory dome arrived in 1911. “After-dark group tours, lectures and stargazing events here are a great way to discover the beauty of space,” says Dr Brad Tucker, astrophysicist and cosmologist at ANU. “There’s nothing quite like seeing the rings of Saturn with your own eyes.”

Bush stone-curlews – nicknamed “murderbirds” for their haunting call – freeze when surprised, often committing to comically odd poses. Catch one in the act on a Twilight Tour at Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, a 12.5-square-kilometre oasis for endangered species in Throsby, 20 minutes’ drive from the city centre. About two hours long, the easy walk starts before sunset at Wildbark, a visitor-centre-meets-café with a solid local wine list.