On the south side of Queens Head North Shore beach (NSW 159) sweeps to the south-southwest for 13 km to Pelican Point, the northern entrance wall for the Hastings River mouth at Port Macquarie. The beach can be accessed by car at Queens Head where a car park and picnic area, with the head providing an excellent view south along the beach. A gravel mining road used to run south to Pelican Point when sand mining was in operation, but since it ceased in the 1980s has fallen into disrepair and a 4WD is required to negotiate the now rough track, with the beach being a more popular choice. The southern end including the isolated North Shore subdivision can be reached on a sealed road from the Settlement Point Ferry. An alternative and route to Crescent Head is via the gravel Maria River road. The beach faces the east-southeast and receives waves averaging 1.6 m, which produce a well-developed double bar system. The inner bar is usually attached and continuous, owing to coarser beach sands, and is only cut by rips during and following higher waves (Fig. 4.86). A wide deep trough however fronts the bar with the outer bars having more widely spaced rips. A permanent rip flows out against Point Plomer and in the south the extensive river mouth bars and currents of the Hastings River dominate the surf for 2 km north of the entrance wall. Just inside the main northern entrance wall is a small 100 m long beach (NSW 160) wedged in against an older training wall. The beach receives low waves through the river mouth usually producing a steep, reflective beach. Its location next to the deep river channel and strong river and tidal currents make this a great fishing spot but hazardous swimming location. read more

Beach Length: 0.1km