The southern part of the beach (T 792) commences at Braddon Point on the northern side of the entrance to 500 m wide Macquarie Harbour and opposite Hells Gate. The extensive ebb tidal Kawatiri Shoal and Cape Sorell afford some protection to the first 3-5 km of the beach, with a single rip-dominated bar and waves increasing from 1 to 1.5 m, while the beaches are backed by a few foredunes and low hummocky dunes. The remainder of the beach however receives the full force of the 3 m high waves, and contains a double to triple bar system, with usually 35 large inner bar rips extending up to the Henty River mouth. The beach is backed by an irregular 10-30 m high often scarped foredune then largely well vegetated transgressive dunes that extend 0.5-7 km inland and to heights of 50 m. These become more unstable to the north and include the bare 400 ha Henty Dunes, which border the northern 3 km of beach and the river mouth. The dunes receive a high rainfall and have numerous lakes and wet deflation hollows, which feed small creeks draining to the beach. In all, the southern dunes cover more than 6,000 ha. The only public access to the beach is along the Ocean Beach Road from Strahan, 5 km to the east, which leads to a beachfront car park next to a small creek (Figs. 4.156 & 4.157). The northern end of the beach is accessible via the Sand Dunes Picnic ground in lee of the Henty Dunes, which requires a 2 km walk across the dunes to the shore.
Beach Length: 0.02km
Patrols
There are currently no services provided by Surf Life Saving Australia for this beach. Please take the time to browse the Surf Safety section of this website to learn more about staying safe when swimming at Australian beaches.
Click here to visit general surf education information.
SLSA provides this information as a guide only. Surf conditions are variable and therefore this information should not be relied upon as a substitute for observation of local conditions and an understanding of your abilities in the surf. SLSA reminds you to always swim between the red and yellow flags and never swim at unpatrolled beaches. SLSA takes all care and responsibility for any translation but it cannot guarantee that all translations will be accurate.