Beach WA 1969 occupies the northern end of Eighty Mile Beach extending from the end of the mangrove section for 73 km. It curves to the northeast then north, to terminate at the low calcarenite of Cape Missiessy (Fig. 4.418). The cape is the first rocky point since Cape Keraudren 222 km to the southwest. In between is the great Eighty Mile Beach, which is actually 138 miles in length. The northern section is not only the longest continuous section of the beach, but also has the best developed and largest barrier system. A 1 km wide band of up to 20 foredune ridges extends northeast all the way to the cape, the width of the foredunes increasing to 2-2.5 km along much of the beach. The northern few kilometres of the barrier narrow to converge on the cape. They are predominately vegetated, apart from the northernmost 15 km which have or are experiencing moderate foredune activity in the form of blowouts and some parabolics, moving up to 300-400 m inland. The foredunes are backed initially by a 20 km wide backbarrier depression, which breaks down into a series of swampy embayments along the last 20 km. The continuous beach consists of the shell rich high tide beach, a low gradient upper intertidal, and then a very low gradient lower intertidal up to 1 km wide. At the northern end in lee of the cape, waves decrease and the outer tidal flats become covered in mud, as mangroves grow along the boundary with the cape. The old coast highway parallels the coast, running about 1 km inland in a foredune swale, to within 10 km of the cape where it turns and connects with the new Great Northern Highway. There is vehicle access to the shore at a few locations, the best developed 8 km west of Anna Plains homestead. read more

Beach Length: 0.073km