South of Alva Beach, the real Burdekin delta shoreline dominates the coast. This 30 km of shoreline contains some of the most dynamic beaches and shorelines in Australia. They are all in a continual state of change owing to the influence of the Burdekin and its massive floods, the river and tidal currents and the relentless force of the south-east Trade winds and their waves that push the sand northward along the beaches and bars. There is vehicle access only to the rear of the Anabranch Beach; the rest are backed by mangroves and/or surrounded by water. There are shack settlements on Anabranch and Scotties. All six beaches are exposed to the south-east Trades and their waves, with waves averaging over 0.5 m in the north, but decreasing slightly to the south. A feature of all the beaches are the extensive bars off Plantation, Anabranch and northern Rita Island, giving way to 1 km-plus wide sand bars off the river mouth in the south. During strong Trades the waves break for several hundreds of metres across these bars, producing an exciting approach to the river and creek mouths. Rita Island consists of three sections (894, 895 & 896) which in total contain 8 km of low, sandy shoreline backed by a prograding shoreline, manifest in multiple beach ridges up to 300 m wide in the north (894) and 1 km wide in the centre (895), while the southern section (896) is a low island detached from the main island. The entire island represents the true mouth of the Burdekin, and the channels separating the beaches, particularly south of the island, carry the bulk of the Burdekin flood waters and sediments. On the south side of the island, the main Burdekin mouth is 2 km wide. As a consequence, the island shore is skewed 3 km seaward and river mouth sand bars extend another 1 km further seaward. The entire area is a zone of shallow, shifting sand bars. The beaches of Rita Island generally consist of a sandy high tide beach fronted by shore-parallel bars and rips in the north, grading into wider and more variable bars and channels to the south. read more

Beach Length: 2km