The bush

"The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where it is largely synonymous with hinterlands or backwoods.

The term is also widely used in Canada and the American state of Alaska to refer to the large, forested portions of their landscapes.

Significant stands remain in Northland and the ranges running south from the Coromandel Peninsula towards Ruapehu, and isolated remnants cap various volcanoes in Taranaki, the Waikato, the Bay of Plenty and the Hauraki Gulf.

From the word comes many phrases including:[9] In South Africa, the term (Afrikaans: die bos) has specific connotations of rural areas which are not open veldt.

One is to cut through heavy brush and other vegetation to pass through tangled country: "We had to do quite a bit of bushwhacking today to clear the new trail."

The other meaning is to hide in such areas and then attack unsuspecting passers-by: "We were bushwhacked by the bandits as we passed through their territory and they took all of our money and supplies."

The latter team had represented an area on the boundaries of the Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay which was in former times known as Bush due to its dense vegetation cover.

In Australia,"Sydney or the bush" equates with such terms as "Hollywood or bust" to mean staking total success or failure on one high-risk event.