Apart from weekend traffic, there’s one thing you learn quickly about living in the Northern Illawarra and that’s how precious solar access is.

I recall my first taste of Winter here in a singular moment at the Wombarra Bowlo. After a long bushwalk up on the escarpment, my fellow bushwalkers and I were enjoying delightfully cold beers and finska up on the grassy lawn. Oh, how delicious were the post-bushwalk endorphins, sun on our backs and the cold beers in our bellies. It was early in the afternoon and there was a good crowd enjoying the same and then, quicker than a flash, the temperature seemed to drop 10 degrees at 3pm as the sun set behind the escarpment.

Also quicker than a flash, most of the crowd either departed, crouched under the gas patio heaters or retreated to the internal confines of the club for Thai food. The more seasoned locals were ready for that sun to set and donned their puffer jackets and beanies and kept swilling outside. I now own several puffer jackets, beanies and have started collecting beer cosies.

We live up on the upper escarpment and it’s not unusual for some houses up our way to lose direct solar access before midday during winter. While the inverse of this condition can be great in summer heatwaves, during winter it means that some households either have to migrate down to the beach points along the coast to extend their Vitamin D intake or put the heater on after lunch!

A home on the upper escarpment that has open access to the northern low winter sun is a rare gem. Further down towards the coastline, there are some areas that are blessed with an extra hour or two of Winter Sun.

Before I jump into where these solar-blessed areas exist, I think it’s warranted to provide a bit of background knowledge around our celestial movements. The summer and winter solstice represent two opposite points in the Earth's axial tilt. During the summer solstice, which usually occurs around December 21st in the Southern Hemisphere, the Earth's tilt is maximised towards the Sun, leading to the longest day of the year, shorter nights and warmer temperatures.

Conversely, the winter solstice, around June 21st in the Southern Hemisphere, corresponds to the Earth's tilt being maximised away from the Sun. This results in the shortest day and longest night of the year, and colder temperatures. How this all relates to architecture is in the angle of the sun.

In winter, the angle of the sun at midday is 33 degrees above the ground plane. In summer, it’s more like 80 degrees. It goes without saying that if you have north-facing glazing with the appropriate eaves over, you will benefit from deep solar penetration in winter and minimal in summer. This is probably one of the easiest passive design strategies available and it works very well in our portion of the hemisphere.

So, that’s all well and good if you can have that unimpeded, northern, low-level winter sun access but what if your neighbour’s blocking you out, or there's a big tree, or you happen to live under the escarpment? That’s where you have to really look at making the most of what solar access you can get and, in our area, that generally means from the East thanks to the escarpment overshadowing us from the west.

The closer you are to the coast, the more solar access you will get in winter but there are certain little pockets in our 'hood that have a solar advantage over the rest.

To observe this in action, I took a walk up to Sublime Point Lookout to watch who’s who in the premium Solar Access 'hood. I’m sure there’s a lot of you who will know who the winners are in this category.

And you guessed it right – it’s the northern side of Kennedy’s Hill. These lucky duckies had sun in their homes right up until 3:30pm on the Winter Solstice.

The south-eastern tip of Thirroul along the ridgeline of Surfers Parade was an even bigger winner in the solar stakes – the sun was still shining at 4pm!

For the rest of us who live north of Thirroul, it’s a run out to Sandon Point if we want to capture those last rays. Good news is that the days are already getting longer now.

Before we know it we’ll all be looking to the escarpment to shelter from the heat!