Huskisson Beach

The thing to understand about Huskisson Beach is which way it points. It faces into Jervis Bay, not out at the Tasman, so it gets the bay’s version of the sea: clear, shallow for a long way out, and usually close to flat. On a day when the ocean beaches south of here are unswimmable, this is often still glass.

That is the whole appeal. It is a swimming and wading beach rather than a surfing one, and it is a two minute walk from the pubs and the bakeries on Owen Street, so you can go back and forth all day without moving the car.

The strip closest to the town centre is Shark Net Beach, which takes its name from a net that is no longer there.

Dogs are allowed off the lead here, but only on the council’s restricted hours, and only on part of the beach. The hours run overnight rather than through the day: 4pm to 8am from 1 October to 30 April, and 3pm to 10am from 1 May to 30 September. The prohibited pockets are the creek mouth and the wharf at the northern end, the section in front of the sea pool and Shark Net Beach, and the southern end towards Tapalla Avenue. The off-leash sand is the middle, which is the opposite of what most people assume.