Reef Beach (WA 323) is a second 8.4 km long exposed high energy beach, which also faces to the southwest. However in addition to the high waves the beach as a discontinuous beachrock reef paralleling much of the shore. The reef forms five major shoreline crenulations, which occupy the central 5 km of the beach (Fig. 4.82). Waves break on the reefs, reform in lagoons between the reef and the shore and break heavily on the steep beach, with strong permanent rips draining the five embayments. More normal beach and surf conditions occur to either side, with four beach rips to the east and three to the west, though some reefs still outcrop in the surf. The entire beach is backed by some of the most active dunes on the southern coast, with no foredune the length of the beach. Rather, sand blows directly from the beach into a dune sheet of transverse dunes that climb the backing 50-100 m high slopes and extend for 5.5 km inland. Earlier vegetated dunes have blown up to 9 km inland and to heights of 220 m, the entire sheet covering 7500 ha. There is 4WD vehicle access to the beach via the eastern Warramurrup ‘Road’ and in the west via the rough Reef Beach ‘Road’, which terminates at a small fishing camp and informal camping area. The beach is the base for the Offshore Angling Club. The western half of Wray Bay commences at the western headland of Reef Beach and trends west for 14 km before finally curving round to face east at Beaufort Inlet. Three kilometres of rocky shoreline extends south of the inlet to Groper Bluff the western boundary of the bay. The entire bay is essentially undeveloped apart from a few 4WD access tracks and a few shacks at the southern end of Pallinup Beach. read more

Beach Length: 8.4km