Childfriendly canyoning in Katoomba

The Blue Mountains, a world heritage site west of Sydney, offer some spectacular views from the plateaus running along the top of the range. However, some of the most fun to be had in the Blue Mountains is down in the valleys, slipping and sliding around in the deep, and a bit mysterious, chasms, thick with lush vegetation and sprinkled with clear water pools. Canyoning lets you get stuck right in to these geological adventure parks and scramble your way through the rock formations and grottos swimming through shimmering pools of water, abseiling down narrow rock faces, with some climbing, scrambling and walking thrown in too.

There are loads of different guided canyoning experiences depending on how fit you are and whether you’ve done any abseiling before, but there are so many canyons that you could easily do one a day and build up the skills you need to scale the more challenging ones. You’ll need some basic gear like a water bottle, sturdy shoes and a torch and the activity centre will provide all the rest. So then all you’ve got to do is throw on your wetsuit and take the plunge.