I have been parenting for four years now and if there’s one lesson that I come back to time and again, it’s this: Mother Nature makes the best coparent. My kids love going to the park, but in general, I am not so fond of park play-time. I tolerate it for my kids but it’s not really how I would choose to spend a Saturday morning unless there’s caffeine involved and another adult to share the swing duty.

I like to take them to places where the level of enjoyment is a little more equitable.

Enter: Mother Nature.

There are a few spots we have found over the years that tick all the boxes of optimal nature play: distance from buildings and roads, the presence of water and no play equipment in sight. These places have become regular haunts for us. The kids are able to explore and free-play and I’m not being pulled in seven different directions pushing swings and dodging e-bikes.

I find that when we wrap ourselves in nature, I am calmer, I enjoy our time more and so do my kids. They are unencumbered by expectations of how and where to play and as a result, a unique adventure becomes an inevitability.

It reminds me of that Bluey episode (a phrase and phenomenon that has become modern-parenting canon) called ‘The Creek’. Bandit (Bluey’s dog-dad) takes the kids to the park where they promptly become bored. The Kiwi collie suggests they go to the creek beyond the park and a whole new world of adventure and limitless creative play formulates their afternoon. After some initial hesitation at the new setting, Bluey settles into the creek play and ends up enraptured. There’s even a magical shared moment with a potoroo. Not even the leeches bother her by the end.

Our playdates with nature often follow a similar path. Given the choice, my kids will still ask to play at the park instead. I think they probably feel a level of comfort knowing what to expect: a dazzling array of ready-made play implements. But when mum makes the executive decision to head into the (relative) wilderness, that’s when they truly come alive. Their little brains fire with creativity and they have to push past the boredom block to create their own adventures. Meanwhile, I am also bathing in the tranquility of nature giving me a much needed serotonin boost. It’s in those times that I remember that Mother Nature is the original co-parent and has a wealth of wisdom to impart if only we stop long enough to join her.

Here are a couple of our favourite spots to throw our children into the beautiful, yet sometimes thorny arms of nature.

Purry Burry Jetty, Primbee

This hidden gem is always quiet and gets bonus points for being relatively central. Park your car by the lake off Bundah Place and take a short paved walk down the she-oak lined path. Mind the ever present dog poo, which is an unfortunate staple of this particular pathway. Or when life gives you dog poo, create a game of dodge the dog-bombs! You’ll reach a ramshackle cul de sac that has been commandeered by an overzealous fig tree. The low-hanging branches make for excellent climbing.

At this point you’ll have reached the jetty, a glorious expansive stretch of boardwalk over the shallows of Griffins Bay that the NSW government recently spent $161,900 renovating. There is a sandy beach, perching cormorants, schooling fish and the graceful Lake Illawarra locals, our black swans. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, sunset and sunrise are spectacular from this jetty’s viewpoint.

Fred Finch Park, Berkeley

Park at the end of Hooka Creek Road or in the small car park at the corner of Holborn and Sussex Street to begin some lake and creek-side adventures. There are endless pathways to explore, both paved and ‘off road’. There are several bridges that cross Hooka Creek, where I’ve seen a plethora of bird and marine life. Egrets, spoonbills, kingfishers, stingrays and schools of mullet, just to name a few. The ibis are in their natural environment here, wading through the wetlands instead of wading through Sulo bins. Small tracks leading into the brush at the back of the baseball fields lead to mangroves and plenty of mud if you feel like letting your kids get really close to nature. There are marked areas of rehabilitation to be aware of but also endless rustic paths to explore.

Cascade Falls Walking Trail, Macquarie Pass

A little further afield is the prehistoric majesty of the rainforest at Macquarie Pass National Park. The Cascade Falls walking trail is easily one of our favourite adventures. The path is two kilometres return and easy enough for the kids to walk. The pristine creek hugs the pathway the entire way before feeding into Macquarie Rivulet. This means that side quests are inevitable and encouraged. There are many points of easy access from the path to the water among the strangler figs and moss-covered boulders. The aura of this place demands hushed reverence for its ancient beauty. It feels as though you’re as likely to stumble across an Iguanodon as you are a lyrebird. And as the kids enter under the tree canopy, they become just as entranced by the magic of the land as I do. The falls at the end of the trail are beautiful but more times than not, we don’t even make it that far as a side-quest becomes the quest.