On the south side of Cape Byron Tallows Beach (NSW 16) curves gently to the south for 6.5 km to Broken Head. This beach when viewed from the 100 m high cape is one of the most photographed in the country. It is backed by the Byron Bay Recreation Reserve in the north, then Arakwal National Park which extends to the mouth of Tallow Creek, followed by Suffolk Park township and caravan park in the centre and the Broken Head caravan park and Nature Reserve in the south (Fig. 4.17). The beach is well exposed resulting in a higher energy double bar system, with persistent rips spaced approximately every 250 m and cutting across the inner attached bar, then a continuous longshore trough and rip-prone outer bar. Bathers should swim at the three patrolled areas at Tallows, Suffolk Park and Broken Head. The slightly sheltered Broken Head usually has the lower waves, but even here pulses of sand moving slowly around Broken Head produce a variable beach and surf zone that can at times result in a northerly skewed bar and trough. read more

Beach Length: 2.5km