Summer is when Pearl Beach fills up. Winter is when the people who know it come. From May to November the village empties, the light goes low and gold, the bay goes flat, and the humpbacks pass the headland twice a day. It is the season the house was built for, and it costs less.
The whales
Humpbacks migrate north past Broken Bay from late May and return south with calves from September into November. You can see them from the beach if you are lucky, but the reliable spots are the high ones: Warrah Lookout, 200 metres above the water with Lion Island and the ocean spread out below, and Green Point at the end of the beach. Take binoculars, a thermos and a jumper, and give it half an hour. Palm Beach Ferries runs whale-watching cruises from across the bay in season if you want to get closer.
The still days
Winter on this coast means westerlies, and westerlies mean the bay is glass. The beach is empty in the mornings, the rock pool is cold and clear, and the walk to Green Point has the place to yourself. Locals swim in winter; you may not, but the sand at 10am with nobody on it is its own reward.
The house in winter
The house faces the bush through floor-to-ceiling glass, and in winter that wall of glass is the whole point: morning sun straight through the living room, the trees behind the fence going gold at four, and the bush turning silver when it rains. The house is fully reverse-cycle air-conditioned, so it is warm within minutes of walking in. Long lunches move inside to the long table, and the backyard is for the sunny middle of the day.
The walks
Winter is walking season. The fire trail to Warrah Lookout is a two-hour round trip you would not want in January; in July it is the best morning of the week. The Patonga track on the Great North Walk, three kilometres over the headland to the pub, is the same. Wildflowers start on the ridge in late winter and run through spring.
Opera in the Arboretum
Every March since 2006, the Rotary Club of Woy Woy stages an afternoon of live opera in the Crommelin Native Arboretum: BYO picnic, all weather, proceeds to charity. It sells out, it is the village’s biggest day, and it is worth planning a stay around. Autumn generally is the quiet secret of Pearl Beach: warm water, cool air, nobody about.
Eating in winter
With no café in the village at the moment, winter is about cooking. Woy Woy Fishermen’s Wharf for prawns and fish straight off the boats, the Saturday fresh food market at Ettalong for vegetables, bread and honey, and the Boathouse at Patonga for the pub lunch after the walk. The coffee van at the hall runs on weekends.
The numbers
Shoulder and winter rates are the lowest of the year, the two-night minimum is easy to get, and a midweek stay in June is a different holiday from the same house in January.
Ready to plan dates? Check availability.
