Sublime Point, Blue Mountains: How to bribe the kids into bushwalking

The siblings sit, silent as stone, arms crossed, brows furrowed, they refuse to relent. "We will NOT go bushwalking," Grace says, stamping her foot. "Remember the ticks?"

Our family history is pockmarked by parasitic arachnids with barbed probosces. During a camping trip on the NSW South Coast, we picked up hundreds of hitchhikers. "I've never seen so many ticks on a child before," the doctor said, fishing some out of Taj's scalp. "There must be 500 here."

After days of treatment with calamine lotion and tea-tree oil, we found one tenacious creature on the inside of Grace's eye. As a baby, Taj had a paralysis tick in his back and we've lost a border collie to the insidious insects.

Really, I understand their reticence to battle the bush. But we're in the Blue Mountains for a weekend of walking. So, like the Three Sisters, I too turn stony: "There will be NO dessert, unless we walk this path," I threaten.

To that end, we choose a 40-minute bushwalk, of medium difficulty, at Wentworth Falls. Taj is learning about the explorers at school: William Wentworth fought for equal rights for ex-convicts.

Grudgingly, they trudge along the track. "Do you think good old Wentworth would have given up?" I cry, in a perfect example of passive aggressive parenting.

Suddenly we're on a cliff-edge, over a thunderous waterfall. It is a reminder of nature's majesty. International tourists are slack-jawed. And the kids' countenance changes. "Mum, let's go all the way to the bottom," Grace insists.

It is a scene from Tolkien's novels as we descend the Grand Stairway: all rugged rocks and Jurassic rainforest. After 20 minutes of vertiginous climbing, we're at the bottom of the waterfall. The spray tickles our skin. I collapse in a middle-aged heap. "Race you to the top, Mum," they holler, scampering away. After 10 minutes I'm hyperventilating: "Kids, I'll just sit here to, er, take a photo and, well, see you at the top!"

Our next stop is Sublime Point Lookout, which lives up to its name. Hidden behind Leura, this is a view of the Three Sisters from behind, without the crowds of Katoomba. Then we tackle the Giant Stairway at Echo Point. This glute-gnashing adventure is best undertaken mid-week: the human traffic is tiresome on a weekend.