Beach Q 74 occupies the 50 km of shoreline and is the longest beach on Cape York. For its entire length it is backed by a series of beach to foredune ridges, which reach a maximum width of 2 km, and which narrow to each end in front of deflected river mouths. The Kirke River has been deflected 10 km to the south, while the Love is deflected 8 km to the north (Fig. 6.15). The rivers drain extensive wetlands that interlink behind the beach and range from 1-10 km in width, with Pleistocene barriers to the east. The beach consists of a moderate gradient sandy shore, fronted by a continuous 50-100 m wide low tide bar, with waves averaging less than 0.5 m. Shell-rich beachrock is exposed in sections, suggesting beach erosion. There is vehicle access across the narrower section of wetlands toward the northern end of the beach. read more

Beach Length: 0.05km