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List of best Victorian beaches to visit this summer in Gippsland

Tips for your Gippsland beach discovery bucket list for you to visit and have fun with friends and family.

By news@gippsland - 8th December 2021 - Back to News

We are fortunate to have a very passionate, very active and very LOUD social media following. Recently we asked our fans to share with us their favourite beaches that our guests should discover.

These beaches are:

• East Cape
• Salmon Rocks
• Pearl Point
• Sealers Cove and Refuge Cove
• Walkerville South
• Darby Beach
• Santa Barbara Bay, Gabo Island
• Betka Beach
• Eagle's Nest
• Shack Bay
• Golden Beach
• The Honeysuckles
• McGaurans Beach

These beaches are off-the-beaten-track, the quiet achievers, the ones that are deserving of more recognition. Visit and get amazed by the beauty of these locations.

East Cape

Located in the spectacular Cape Conran Coastal Park, East Cape is the place for swimming, with shallower waters and gentler surf than its rowdier neighbours. Its long, sandy beach is ripe for a picnic on the sand, and if the tide's out, a round of beach cricket. Wander along the East Cape Boardwalk through banksia woodlands and heathland, past sacred ancient meeting places of Aboriginal people. Nearby camping is available at the Banksia Bluff campground.

Wander white sandy beaches, rock pools, boardwalks, banksia woodlands and lookouts, take the family along and get the kids to spot the abundant wildlife including echidnas, wallabies, kangaroos and much more

Salmon Rocks

This is Cape Conran Coastal Park,s centrepiece... a wide beach with turquoise water and golden sand. The beach is bookended by rocky outcrops where the granite changes colour with the light, from blood orange to amethyst.

Meander along the exposed Salmon Rocks Beach and take in the pristine beauty of Cape Conran. Watch the waves break on a reef just off shore and if you are an avid surfer, this can be a great place to catch a wave

Pearl Point

Close to Bemm River, this beach is blissfully long, flat and wide. The eastern beach is partially protected by the point and provides endless hours of rock pool exploration.

Pearl Point features spectacular sedimentary rock formations, rolling sand dunes and an abundance of seabirds and sea life, a popular spot for surf fishing

Sealers Cove and Refuge Cove

Crystal clear azure waters lapping at the golden sandy shore await those who hike into these off-the-beaten-track beaches. On the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory, they are well-protected. Both beaches are accessed on the overnight hike, Wilsons Promontory Southern Circuit Walk and there's a campsite at each. You can also join a cruise with Wildlife Coast Cruises to see Refuge Cove, departing from Port Welshpool.

It's worth the extra weight to bring binoculars that can help you spot the local marine life such as dolphins, sea lions, seals, humpback whales, killer whales and southern right whales

Walkerville South

A small but beautiful half-moon beach, great for swimming, especially with young kids. There are giant rocks for clambering and remnants of the lime kilns can be seen from the beach. This beautiful beach was the inspiration for the much-loved children's classic book, Magic Beach by Alison Lester.

Once the road clears the forest at the shore a gravel road on the immediate left leads to a camping ground while the sealed road hugs the shore closely for about 500 metres before ending at a boat ramp

Darby Beach

Darby beach is one of the first beaches you'll pass as you enter the gates of Wilsons Promontory. It's easy to drive past in your race to set up camp at Tidal River, but you're smarter than that... Those who stop are rewarded with a small sandy beach, fringed by rocky headlands and sand dunes.

Beginning at Darby River Carpark, a sandy track follows Darby River as it winds its way to the sea, the small exposed beach is embraced at either end by rocky headlands and ancient dunes and it's a great place to see shore birds

Santa Barbara Bay, Gabo Island

Take your boat or a water taxi and head for Gabo Island, just off Mallacoota's coastline. You'll be rewarded with a white sandy beach and turquoise waters gently lapping on the shore. The crystal clear sea offers fantastic snorkelling. A colony of Little Penguins calls this beach home, and can be found waddling to their burrows each day at sunset.

Home to a historic lighthouse and the world's largest colony of Little Penguins, is a small island 500 meters off the southeastern Australian coast (13 km from Mallacoota, Victoria), managed by Parks Victoria and accessible only by boat or small plane

Betka Beach

One of Mallacoota's jaw-droppingly beautiful beaches, Betka Beach is the meeting point of the Betka River and the ocean. The interesting shoreline is peppered with lime-green mossy rocks, and the gentle gradient makes it a good choice for paddling.

Betka Beach is a shore zone of coarse unconsolidated sediment that extends from the low-water line to the highest reach of storm waves

Eagle's Nest

This geologically pleasing beach is like many of its Bunurong Coast neighbours, a cove tucked into the steep-sided bluff. Standing guard over the secluded beach is the fantastical rock formation jutting from the water, appearing like a nest. There are plenty of rockpools for fossicking in at low tide.

Eagles Nest is a sandstone sea stack that sits on a wide rock platform and is awash at high tide, on the eastern side of the Nest is a 250 m long platform beach lying at the base of 40 m high, vegetated bluffs

Shack Bay

Make your way down a windy, wooden staircase to discover your own secluded slice of paradise along the Bass Coast. Shack Bay is one of a collection of bays and coves tucked into deep cliffs along the Bunurong Coast.

Shack Bay is named after the fishermen's shacks that used to occupy the back of this small beach, the 150 m long beach lies in a 200 m wide gully, and is fronted by near continuous rock flats. A small gap in the middle is used to launch fishing boats

Golden Beach

Despite being the nearest beach from Sale, Golden Beach remains off the beaten track with only a handful of shops and facilities. Look out for the remnants of the Trinculo Shipwreck. All that remains is her iron spine sticking out of the sand after she ran aground due to bad weather in 1858.

Golden Beach is a small settlement situated on the Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland Victoria, the beaches there offer long distances for walking and fishing, but are not patrolled, it has kangaroos on the golf course, a playground near the shops and a lookout deck near the ocean beach

The Honeysuckles

Ninety miles of sand stretch across this section of coast. You could walk for miles and not see a soul. This endless expanse of golden sand and pristine waters makes surf fishing dreams come true. It's not only about the sea here, because the vantage point of the southern night skies is one of the best. You can enjoy a star-gazing experience with Honeysuckles Astronomy Tours.

Honeysuckles Astronomy Tours is a unique stargazing experience to appeal to everyone, located 2.5 hours east of Melbourne, it's educational, fun and a great gift idea

McGaurans Beach

An endless horizon of fine, golden sand can be found on Mcgaurans Beach. This surf beach along the Ninety Mile Beach is backed by dunes. With a usually attached inner bar cut by rips every 250 m, a trough, then the outer bar.

South of Seaspray the beach continues to change, the sand remains fine all the way to Reeves Beach, the beach is eroding along parts of this section, which usually results in a scraped dune at the back of the beach.The first beach access south of Seaspray is McGaurans Beach. The McGaurans Beach Road runs straight out to the beach, where there is a small car park but no facilities.

Four kilometres to the south is Jack Smith Lake Beach; named after the backing lake, access to this beach is via a 2 km track off the Seaspray Road, the track can be flooded during wet weather

Pictures from Visit Gippsland website, Visit Gippsland Facebook page, Wikimedia.org, Inverloch 3996 Facebook page and
Mcgauran Beach Facebook page.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com