At Hardwicke Bay settlement the coast turns 900 and trends north for the next 50 km to Port Victoria. While the section of coast faces due west into the prevailing winds and gulf wind waves, the beaches remain very low energy owing to the continuous 200 to 500 m wide rock and sand flats that front the shoreline. Consequently the beaches remain narrow strips of high tide sand, usually covered in piles of seagrass debris. A grid of gravel roads backs the shoreline with access provided to most of the shore along formed gravel roads or vehicle tracks following the back of the beach or dunes. Hardwicke Bay beach (465) begins 1 km south of the Hardwicke Bay settlement which occupies 1.5 km of the crenulate 10.4 km long beach. The settlement has a store and petrol station and consists of about 80 generally beachfront shacks, and more recent freehold subdivisions, that sit atop a 10 m high foredune (Fig. 4.97). The beach is very low energy and much of the 400 m wide sand/rock flats are covered with salicornia grasses. A gravel road parallels the back of the beach, known locally as Sheriffs Beach, up to Port Minlacowie, site of a wheat jetty from 1877 to 1971, and now only offering a large car park and boat ramp, located at a gap in the rock flats. North of the old port the beach is known as Cockle Beach. read more

Beach Length: 10.4km