Summer in Sydney means ... ocean pools, InterContinental and Room Ten

What does Sydney summer mean to you?

Swimming in the ocean as often as possible, soft night air, children happily exhausted after swimming all day, bare feet on grass, going out for the evening in a sleeveless dress, seeing something at the Sydney Festival, and a general sense of lightness and freedom.

Earliest memory of summer in Sydney?

Going to Northbridge Baths with my grandma – scorching hot concrete, cool harbour sea and Icy Poles at day’s end.

First place you take visitors?

The rooftop bar at the InterContinental Hotel, which shows Sydney at its most obscenely attractive, or, if I have longer with them, Currawong Beach on Pittwater, where they may or may not be eaten by the local goannas.

Favourite cafe?

Room Ten in Potts Point for atmosphere and for their salad game; and The General in Dulwich Hill for excellent food, service and playlists.

Secret spot you escape to?

The Girrahween Track along Wolli Creek is a shady and cool bushwalk, and it has a flying fox camp along the way for added interest. It’s a short enough walk to force children on – I believe that being forced to bushwalk is an essential part of Australian childhood.

The best summer food is …

Summer pudding – my daughter and I make one every year for Christmas lunch.

I know it’s summer when I smell …

Mosquito repellent.

My favourite summer song is …

It’s a dead heat between August by Taylor Swift and Night Moves by Bob Seger. I have always thought it would have been cool to be one of Bob Seger’s backup singers.

The worst thing about summer is …

Trying to reconcile my Irish rose complexion with the UV Index.

My closest bolthole is …

The Malabar ocean pool – it’s like an infinity pool for the masses, and it has a very local character which remains intact despite the roaring gentrification of so many parts of Sydney.

Guilty pleasure?

I never feel guilty about my pleasures! But probably the aforementioned summer pudding with liberal ice cream and cream applied to it. Also, during summer I ignore newspapers to read fiction exclusively. I never read any improving nonfiction books either.

What aspect of life would you change, and what should stay the same?

It saddens me that the pleasures of the coast are not easily accessible to many people in the western suburbs of Sydney. They should build a tunnel between Fairfield and Bondi – we seem to have tunnels and big roads everywhere else.

But I wouldn’t ever want Sydney to calm down over summer – it’s meant to be chaotic and dazzling, full of fireworks and festival shows and day trips on the water, all experienced in belting humidity.

Summer in Sydney is a series where Herald staff reveal the best – and worst – of our city in the hotter months.

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.