Coolangatta-Greenmount Beach is an 800 m long, north facing beach wedged in between the Greenmount groyne, that extends for 200 m off Kirra Point, and the prominent, 30 m high Greenmount Hill. The beach derives its name from the green hill and the wreck of a ship named Coolangatta, which was named after Mount Coolangatta on the Shoalhaven River in New South Wales, where the ship was built. The Gold Coast Highway skirts the western end of the beach and Marine Parade runs the length of the beach, with a seawall protecting the road from episodic erosion.While the beach faces north and is partially protected by Point Danger from the prevailing southerly swell, it remains a very dynamic beach. This is as a result of large pulses of sand that move from New South Wales across the Tweed River mouth and around Point Danger. They manifest themselves as large sand waves moving slowly around Greenmount over a period of weeks to months and finally attaching themselves to Greenmount, before moving on eventually around the groyne and on past Kirra to North Kirra Beach. Depending on the size, shape and degree of progress along the beach, bar, surf and rip conditions can vary considerably.Typically the beach has an attached inner bar, possibly cut by rip channels, with a deeper trough paralleling the beach and an outer bar/sand wave further out. There is often shallow sand around the base of Greenmount and a strong permanent rip against the Greenmount groyne. Waves average 0.5 to 1 m, usually being higher at the western Coolangatta end. read more

Beach Length: 0.8km