From the remote to the remarkable, from the famous to the well hidden, marine scientist and beach boffin Andrew Short nominates Australia’s most notable stretches of sand.
Selecting “outstanding” Australian beaches is made all the more difficult because not only do we have thousands of them (more than 12,000), but many rate very highly. By world standards, the Australian coast has superb beaches. Why? For a start it has an abundance of clean white-to-yellow golden sand combined with generally clean, clear water, both a product of the continent’s ancient geology and aridity. Then there are the thousands of headlands that shorten a beach to an average of slightly more than 1km and provide often dramatic boundaries and backdrops to the golden sands.
Next there are the waves, endlessly rolling in around the entire southern half of the continent. Surprisingly, the vast majority of the beaches are undeveloped or remote, with half inaccessible by vehicle. Finally, the climate ranges from balmy in the north to more bracing in the south
– so what you see is what you get: beautiful, natural, clean beach systems ranging from the Top End to Tassie, a true ribbon of gold that is the envy of the world.
The 20-odd chosen here are a little more accessible and generally less developed. Most can be visited by car, while a few require 4WD. They represent some of the best of the best. Don’t just fly over or land near them – these Australian beaches should be explored and enjoyed.
Queensland
Cape Hillsborough is a prominent, 270m-high, conical headland that forms the eastern boundary of the beach of the same name, so called by Captain Cook in 1770. The beach curves for 2km north to Andrews Point, both headlands covered in dense tropical vegetation. A thick stand of casuarina trees overhangs the wide, fine-sand beach, which slopes gently into the sea with usually low waves breaking across the gentle slope. The Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort backs the pristine beach and the area is popular with kangaroos.
Frangipani is Australia’s northernmost beach, with the sloping volcanic rocks of Cape York extending out along its east end. Every visitor to the Cape must cross the beach and follow the rocks to reach Australia’s northern tip. The low white-sand beach extends 2km to the east, where a small tidal creek runs out hard against its western rocky boundary. A place to relax after making it to the Top.
Etty Bay is one of Queensland’s hidden treasures. The road from Innisfail climbs over the towering Moresby Range to descend through tropical rainforest to the 700m-long bay, backed and bordered by dense rainforest. The gently sloping beach usually receives small waves and has a stinger enclosure and surf club, with the Etty Bay Caravan Park and Kiosk tucked in behind the northern end.
Seventy-Five Mile Beach is, at 90km, not only Queensland’s longest beach, but also one of its most remarkable. It is composed of fine white sand transported from NSW to Fraser Island and then blown into massive dunes, the largest coastal sand accumulation in the world. The beach, like the island, is a popular destination for 4WDs carrying fishermen, campers, tourists and surfers, with camps strung along the base of the high dunes.
Western Australia
Turquoise Bay is named for its clear aqua-blue waters. The curving, north-facing bay forms the northern shore of a low sandy foreland that juts 500m out into the Ningaloo Lagoon. While the bay is usually calm, the large ocean swell breaks on Ningaloo Reef about 1km offshore, with surfers venturing out in boats to ride the reef breaks. Wedged between the national park and marine park, the bay offers beaches and coral reef, with the surf and whale sharks offshore.
Lucky Bay, like all of Cape Le Grand National Park’s 27 beaches, is a curving beach composed of fine, pure-white sand, sparkling clear water and persistent Southern Ocean swell. It has rounded granite headlands and backing vegetated dunes that rise steeply towards the massive granite tors that back the coast. The western end is more sheltered and has access as well as camping, while waves and rips increase to the east.
Cable Beach is in a class of its own. Huge tides, usually low Indian Ocean waves and fine white sand produce a beach that extends well seaward at low tide, narrowing to a few metres at high tide. The southern Gantheaume Point boasts dinosaur footprints and shelters fishing boats, while hidden behind the backing dunes is all that Cable Beach has to offer – beautiful resorts and holiday attractions.
Smiths Beach typifies the impressive 110km section of the West Australian coast between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. The golden sand beach is backed by slopes rising into the national park, while access, facilities and accommodation are located on the slopes above its southern corner. The corner also offers more sheltered conditions, a small lagoon and easy swimming, while reefs and good surf prevail towards the centre.
Faraway Bay, located on the rugged north Kimberley coast, is – as the name implies – a long way from most of Australia and indeed is accessible by land only to guests of the Faraway Bay Bush Camp. The small, north-facing beach is set deep in a U-shaped bay bordered by typical red sandstone cliffs and headlands. Coral reefs fringe the base of the cliffs and the usually low waves in the bay have supplied coral sand to build the beach. There is said to be a resident croc.
New South Wales
Minnie Water, 30km in from the Pacific Highway is an isolated beach surrounded by the magnificent Yuraygir National Park. The 1.5km-long beach has a rock reef encircling its southern half that provides a natural anchorage for the local fishing boats, while the northern half receives waves and surf. It is backed by a small and historic fishing community and has a surf club, store and the rustic Illaroo camping area.
Merimbula-Pambula Beach is one of the longest on the south coast. It boasts river mouths at each end and also features two outstanding surf beaks, with both ends of the beach patrolled in the summer. It is backed by two attractive townships and the regional airport. The beach remains in its natural state, receiving waves that wrap into the 6km-wide bay and deliver some of the best beach and bar breaks on the coast. The outstanding Ben Boyd National Park, the largest on the New South Wales coast, forms the southern boundary of the beach.
Killalea Beach is a curving, 650m-long, south-facing beach, bordered by a prominent basalt headland and backed by a freshwater lake, all contained in a state park. Its orientation makes it a magnet for swell, with good beach breaks in abundance – so much so that the seaward side has been enshrined as a National Surfing Reserve. The natural beauty draws sightseers, the superior surf naturally attracts surfers and the lake provides for a wide range of birds and wildlife – just about all you could want and no more than a short drive from the heart of industrial Wollongong.
Hat Head Beach curves for 16km south from Smoky Cape to a tidal creek that flows out hard against the base of the conical, 165m-high Hat Head. The pristine southern corner also houses the small community and offers surf, a camping area, surf club and a sheltered sandy inlet that is perfect for families. The ebb and flow of the creek is popular with swimmers and the circular scenic walk around the head includes secluded pocket beaches.
Victoria
Wingan Beach lies at the end of a 30km-long dirt track that winds though Croajingolong National Park to a camping area among tall eucalyptus trees beside a pristine natural lagoon full of bass. A raised wooden walkway takes you to the 2km-long surfing beach, which is backed by a high fore dune, bordered by an open inlet in the north, with the Skerries seal colony just seaward. The southern corner was named Fly Cove by Bass and Flinders when they sheltered there in 1797 and it has not changed since then.
Bridgewater Bay is a bold, exposed beach bounded by two massive headlands. The 13km-wide bay faces directly into the Southern Ocean and much of its shore is pounded by the persistent swell. The western corner, however, is where the road leads to a surf club and kiosk, with a smattering of houses on the slopes of Cape Bridgewater, which also gives shelter from the westerly winds. A place to experience the might of the Southern Ocean.
South Australia
Western River Cove is a small, picturesque arc of north-facing sand at the Western River mouth, bordered by prominent headlands, with platforms, boulders and beaches at their base. It is one of the few accessible beaches on Kangaroo Island’s rugged north coast and offers usually calm to low-wave conditions. From the car park, a footbridge crosses the river and follows the sand dunes to the beach.
Nora Creina looks as if it was made for a movie set. The almost perfectly circular bay is shielded from the massive ocean waves by a series of jagged reefs and islets which, together with the bounding headlands, form a craggy outlook from a perfectly flat, smooth, sandy beach and waters. The bay is accessed via a winding sand track past a series of fishing shacks of all shapes and sizes, and terminates on the hard beach, where the fishermen launch their boats with the help of a rusty old tractor.
Dog Fence Beach forms the southern boundary of the 5400km-long dingo fence, built across Australia between southern Queensland to South Australia to discourage dingoes from dining on sheep. This is a typical beach of the Great Australian Bight – long, exposed and deserted, with usually high waves and big rips. Huge sand dunes extend the length of the beach and have blown up to 5km inland. It can be reached by a rough track that follows the fence from the Eyre Highway, but don’t expect to find anyone else there. It’s as remote as it gets along this stretch of coast.
Northern Territory
Macassan Beach on the eastern Arnhem Land coast has numerous small, tropical, headland-bound beaches that receive trade-wind surf. The curving, 200m-long beach is typical, with surf rolling in across a shallow bar and red laterite headlands protruding at each end. It is named after the Macassan fishermen who camped here for centuries on their seasonal trips to northern Australia. While now deserted, you can still camp behind this idyllic beach.
Tasmania
Picnic Rocks, near the Bay of Fires, is dominated by big, rounded granite rocks, boulders and reefs, set in a series of short, curving, pure white quartz sand beaches, with each curve linked to one or more of the rocks. A gravel road runs behind the beaches through thick dune vegetation to a picnic and camping area adjacent to Deep Creek, which flows out onto the usually sheltered and quiescent, clear waters. A beautiful place to picnic, fish or explore the sand, rocks and reefs.
Ocean Beach is exposed to the full force of the Southern Ocean waves and winds and possibly has the highest persistent waves in the world. Waves average up to 5m each day and can reach a mountainous 18m. They break across an almost kilometre-wide surf zone, with giant rips close in to shore. The road from Strahan terminates at a small car park overlooking this mighty, 33km-long beach – and happens to be the only development on it.
Andrew D Short and Colin D Woodroffe are the authors of The Coast Of Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2009). For more works by Andrew D Short on Australia’s beaches visit www.sup.usyd.edu.au/marine
Source Qantas The Australian Way January 2011