The PM bought a house here. I can understand why

Sooner or later, The Simpsons is always right. The animated TV series is famous for having predicted a Donald Trump presidency way back in 2000, and now even its brutal ribbing of Australia from 30 years ago seems to have some basis in fact.

Back in season six, the Simpson family visited Australia, where they drank beer, introduced an invasive species, and were sentenced to a “booting”. There was also a scene in which an outraged Australian reported the Simpsons to his local member of parliament – who was next door tending to a pig farm – who then escalated it to the prime minister, who was in a nearby lake, floating naked in an inner tube, drinking a can of Fosters.

Copacabana is the ideal of egalitarian Australia. Credit: Alamy

“Hey, Mr Prime Minister!” the politician yelled. “Andy!”

You get the joke. Australia is a provincial backwater where, if you want to speak to the prime minister, you just have to lean over your back fence and call out.

It would be deeply insulting if it weren’t true. Because here I am in Copacabana, a sleepy enclave on the NSW Central Coast, and the prime minister has bought a house just over the back fence.

“Hey, Mr Prime Minister!” you could yell. “Albo!”

The new Albanese digs is actually a bit more than yelling distance away – the house he bought last year with fiancee Jodie Haydon is on the upper reaches of Del Monte Place, a clifftop abode with gorgeous views of beach and ocean. We’ve rented a holiday home in what I would class as “lower Del Monte”, part of the street that hugs Cockrone Lagoon, where the views are more modest but the vibes more relaxed.

The house purchased by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Copacabana.Credit:

What inspired Albo to buy a house in Copa, an isolated hamlet just south of Avoca, something of a local secret in the region affectionately known as the “Costa Centrale”?

No doubt the relaxed nature was appealing. This is the sort of beach where pretty much anyone – prime minister, rock star, plumber, travel writer – could roll in to Burnt Honey, the excellent local bakery, for a flat white and a croissant and absolutely no one would bat an eyelid.

Copacabana is the ideal of egalitarian Australia. No one cares who you are.

Burnt Honey, the excellent local bakery.Credit: Nikki To/Destination NSW

There’s more to the attraction, however, particularly for holidaymakers like me. Copa is a classic Aussie beach town with none of the hustle or glamour of somewhere like Palm Beach, which is just across the Hawkesbury from here, or Bondi, a few hours down the highway but in another world.

There’s one bakery in Copa, a pizza place, a cafe, a surf club canteen. There’s one modest hotel, the Copacabana Shores. A bunch of houses by the beach have small signs outside advertising the property agency handling their holiday bookings.

The name of Copacabana, by the way, is a real estate agent’s marketing ploy, in much the same way Hollywood was for Los Angeles. This area was known as Tudibaring to the original inhabitants, and indeed to the colonial farmers first gifted access; it wasn’t until 1954 that property developer Willmore & Randell was given permission to sell packages of beachfront property, and named the area Copacabana with an eye for the exotic.

The guest houses here fill up in the summer holidays, when those from Sydney and beyond come looking for a beach that’s the way beaches used to be: no crowds, free parking, plenty of space to just hang out and take it all in.

As with most holiday communities, Copa is at its best in the morning, before the day-trippers arrive. You can have a swim, walk along the beach, grab a coffee and a pastry from the bakery with pretty much no one else around.

The writer’s accommodation, Copa Beachside.Credit:

There’s a sense of idyll here even when the visitors do turn up. You’re reminded that there are few better feelings in the world than the end of a day at the beach, your skin kissed by salt and sun, the sound of the waves still in your ears.

The kids are dog-tired every evening, worn out by beach swims and paddles in the lagoon, by chasing a frisbee around and digging holes in the sand. The adults are ready for a cold beer on the back deck, time to decompress and wonder: Should we call Albo?

Copacabana is a 1.5-hour drive north of Sydney. Copa Beachside is a four-bedroom, three-bathroom holiday home within walking distance of the beach and lagoon. It sleeps up to eight adults plus two children, starting from $300 a night (minimum two nights, linen and cleaning costs extra). See centralcoastholidayhomes.com.au

The writer stayed as a guest of Central Coast Holiday Homes.