The Central Coast with small children

A holiday with a three-year-old is not a shorter version of a holiday without one. The drive has a ceiling of about two hours before it stops being worth it. The water has to be the kind you can stand up in. And the house matters more than the postcode, because you will spend more of the week in it than you expect.

The Central Coast happens to be good at all three. It is ninety minutes up the M1, the lakes are flat and shallow, and the houses have the one thing a family actually needs — somewhere the adults can sit once the children are down.

Where the water is calm

The ocean beaches get the photographs, but with small children the lakes are the better bet. Tuggerah Lake and Brisbane Water are both shallow a long way out, which means an afternoon where nobody has to hold anybody.

Long Jetty is the easiest introduction — a foreshore path flat enough for a scooter, a playground at each end, and enough coffee to make an early start survivable. Toukley and Woy Woy Bay do the same thing with fewer people in the way.

• Umina and Ettalong for surf that is still gentle, with a patrolled flag in summer
• The Entrance for the pelican feed at 3:30, which reliably buys you twenty minutes
• Avoca rock pool when the swell is up and the beach is not an option

What to look for in the house

Fencing is the one thing worth being fussy about. Plenty of waterfront houses are magnificent and open straight onto a jetty, which is wonderful at eight years old and a week of vigilance at two. Every listing says whether the yard is enclosed — read it before you fall for the view.

After that: a bath rather than only a shower, a dishwasher, and somewhere shaded to eat outside. We keep a cot and a high chair for most houses. Ask when you book rather than packing them.

Going in the shoulder

January is beautiful and busy. If your children are not school-aged yet, you have an advantage worth using: the last fortnight of November and the first of March are warm enough to swim, half the price, and you will not queue for anything.