Mornington Peninsula in winter: why it's our favourite season

A 38-degree pool is pleasant in summer; in winter it is transcendent. Steam rising off the hilltop pool at Peninsula Hot Springs on a 10-degree morning is the Peninsula's single best winter moment, and Alba's heated pools-and-lunch formula works even better when it's grey outside.

Winter is also when bookings are easiest to get — the dawn sessions that sell out in January are wide open in July.

Red Hill and Main Ridge do winter properly: cellar doors with fireplaces, pinot noir that suits the weather, and long-lunch restaurants — Pt Leo Estate, Montalto, Ten Minutes by Tractor — where a grey afternoon is the feature, not the bug. Book the lunch, skip the rush.

Add the food trail around it: Red Hill cheese, Main Ridge chocolates, Mornington Peninsula Brewery for the non-wine contingent.

Winter is whale season — humpbacks and southern right whales track along the coast from roughly June to September, with lookouts at Cape Schanck and along the Point Nepean ocean side. The back-beaches (Gunnamatta, St Andrews, Cape Schanck) put on a genuine storm-watching show after a front.

And the calm bay beaches are at their most beautiful empty: a winter morning walk on Tootgarook or Rye beach, with the bay flat and silver and nobody on it, beats any summer afternoon there.

The economics flip in winter: large holiday houses that are contested in summer are available and often better-priced, which is exactly when extended families and friend groups should pounce — milestone birthdays, reunions, and offsites work better in winter anyway, because the house is the point.

Choose the house for winter specifically: a gas fireplace, under-tile bathroom heating, a heated spa, and serious indoor entertainment. Our place in Tootgarook — MAX Entertain Beachside Retreat — was honestly built for this season: 120-inch theatre, arcade and karaoke nights, a warm spa under cold sky, and the fireplace running while the kids' Mario Kart tournament decides bragging rights. The solar-heated pool stretches swimming into the shoulder seasons, and the spa carries the depths of July.