Marrawah is a small community located at the end of the Bass Highway 3 km in from the coast. A sealed road leads to the two main surfing beaches at Periwinkle (T 930) and Marrawah (T 932). There are limited facilities available at Marrawah, with a camping reserve and toilets at the beach and a car park at Periwinkle. The beaches lie either side of Green Point, with Periwinkle occupying the southern Slaves Bay, and Marrawah, also known as Three Mile and Green Point beach, the northern Ann Bay. Both bays face west into the persistent high westerly swell and have energetic, hazardous surf zones. Marrawah Beach begins at the base of Green Point and runs for 5.7 km (3.6 miles) up to Mount Cameron West, a steep 170 m high basalt headland. The beach faces west-northwest with the southern end receiving slight protection from Green Point, while the very southern corner contains a 100 m long section between the point and a small reef that usually has the lowest waves (Fig. 4.186). Wave height increases rapidly up the beach with a rip-dominated double bar dominating north of the reef. The inner bar has a combination of beach rips and rips against four areas of rocks and inner reefs, with up to 15 rips along the shore. The outer bar lies 200 m offshore with more widely spaced rips, while a third bar forms along the northern few hundred metres of beach terminating against Mount Cameron West. The beach is backed by vegetated transgressive dunes that increase in size to the north where they extend up to 2 km inland and to a height of 30 m. The drainage is orientated along the shore-perpendicular dune ridges with six small creeks, including Shell Creek draining onto the beach. The northern dunes are included in the Mount Cameron West Aboriginal Site. The best beach access is in the southern corner where there is a car park, picnic area, playground and a camping area, while a vehicle track also reaches the northern end of the beach at the southern base of Mount Cameron West. read more

Beach Length: 5.7km