Sea Salt at Maloney's: dog-friendly, sleeps 9, 5 min walk to the beach

A quiet three-bedroom house five minutes' walk from the sand at Maloneys Beach, thirteen kilometres north of Batemans Bay. Sleeps nine, with the kids sharing beds. The dog comes too.

Maloneys never quite got developed: no shops, no surf club, no through traffic. Just a crescent of sand, spotted gums, and streets where the kangaroos graze on the front lawn at dusk. Two hours from Canberra on the Kings Highway.

Sleeps nine across five beds: a king bedroom, a queen bedroom, and a kids' room with three beds, two doubles and a single. Sleeping the full nine means children sharing the doubles. For adults or teenagers who each want their own bed, the house is best suited to five or six. In practice that suits one extended family or two families with children rather than three couples. Two showers and two toilets.

Open living and dining under a raked timber ceiling, polished concrete floors, and two long tables that each seat eight, one inside and one on the deck. The kitchen has everything: dishwasher, air fryer, smoothie maker, sandwich press, and a bean grinder with a french press for people who care about the first coffee of the day.

Outside there's a timber deck under a pergola, a fire pit, a multi-level charcoal smoker and an electric grill, and a fenced back yard with enough lawn for a game of cricket. The garage is set up as a proper gym: squat rack, Olympic bar and plates, kettlebells, bench and a bike, with a dartboard and a second fridge for the overflow.

We stock the house ourselves: proper soap and shampoo in the bathrooms, coffee beans in the kitchen, and enough for breakfast on the first morning so you don't have to shop before you've unpacked. There are treats for the dog and a box of toys in the garden.

For babies and toddlers there are portacots, a bouncer, a change table and a highchair.

Carport and driveway with room for two cars and a trailer. (The garage is the gym, so it isn't a parking space.)

Dogs: the property is fully dog-proof. The front and back yards connect, the front is contained, and there's colorbond down both sides and across the back. Dogs are welcome on Maloneys from the centre access heading west, but not on the eastern stretch towards the national park. Long Beach west of the Bay Road car park is off-leash. Dogs are not permitted anywhere in Murramarang National Park.

Maloneys Beach is unpatrolled: no flags and no lifeguards at any time of year. The nearest patrolled beaches in season are Malua Bay and Broulee.

There are three security cameras outside the house. There are none inside, anywhere.

The gym has loaded barbells and free weights, so please keep younger children out unless someone is with them.

NSW STRA registration: PID-STRA-86153