Quarram Beach (WA 490) is a 4.8 km long, south-southwest to south-facing, high energy beach. It receives waves averaging about 2 m, which maintain a 200 m wide rip dominated surf zone. It has a permanent rip against the eastern rocks and usually ten beach rips spaced about every 400 m. It terminates at the small, often closed, mouth of Irwin Inlet. The beach and its two eastern neighbours are backed by well vegetated, nested longwalled parabolic dunes, which have transgressed up to 4 km inland over Pleistocene dunes. There is one active blowout midway along the main beach, as well as dune instability within 1 km of the inlet mouth. Peaceful Bay is a small settlement containing several rows of houses and a large camping and caravan park right behind the main beach (Fig. 4.110). A sealed road runs out from the highway to the protected bay, which is a popular holiday and retirement destination. The settlement has a store and fuel, with a picnic area and toilets in the beachfront park that surrounds the main bay beach (WA 492). This western side of Peaceful Bay faces southeast and is partly protected by its orientation and Point Irwin. It contains three main beaches (WA 491-493) and three smaller rock dominated beaches (WA 494-496) out towards the point. Irwin Inlet forms the eastern boundary of the beaches with a 1.5 km long channel connecting the main 1000 ha lagoon with the beach. The lagoon is feed by the relatively small Bow River. read more

Beach Length: 4.8km