What Is The Longest Beach In Australia

Many visitors have the idea of one day coming to Australia for a holiday, I mean who does not want to spend a carefree day at the beach? Most Aussies love the beach and love spending every minute there! Do you love the beach too?

If you answered YES then please keep reading more, the Golden Sands beach can surely be a great place to relax.

Did you know Australia is home to many of the world’s longest beaches found anywhere? You might be surprised to learn that the longest beach in Australia is Coorong coming in at a massive 222-kilometres or (139 miles) in length found off the coastline of South Australia.

Coorong beach only has 3 large rocks erupting from its sandy beach, out of the total 222 Km stretch!

This is a well-known beach for fishing, surfing, and swimming. Most visitors you find will say this is a reasonably safe beach for 4wd tours up and down the beach.

You will need to be cautious and prepared when driving as the sand can be soft in certain patches.

Why Does Australia Have So Many Long Beaches?

It’s well known that a vast amount of Australians prefer to live along the stunning coastlines of this great country. Having a beach life is how many locals spend their leisure time away from the working day, or a family holiday away by the beachside.

Australia is set right in the middle of where three oceans join together, 1. The mighty Pacific Ocean 2. The Indian Ocean and 3. The Southern Ocean. Which explains why the beaches here are so long, as Australia’s mainland is surrounded by water and stretches out over 30,000 km.

If you then add on the other smaller islands dotted around the coastline this number then comes closer to a massive 47,000 km of coastline and beaches to visit on your holiday here in Australia.

Here is a handy chart of the longest beaches found in Australia.

What Defines A Beach?

A clear definition of a beach is known as a stretch of shoreline with sand that is longer than 20 meters in length, and it must remain dry when the waters reach high tide.

The main point of the sandy area on a beach is for a visitor to touch the water, sit on the sand or enter the water if they are choosing to swim.

Did you know that Australia has well over 10,000 beaches and it would take you over 27 years to see them all, but if you were to just visit the longest beaches then that time would be cut down to just a few months!

Most of the materials the beach may contain travel over super long distances, water and waves can carry the broken down elements for thousands of kilometres. It does this when the tide changes and comes in, after this, it then wash the ocean sediments around.

What does this beach sediment contain? There are so many elements that make up a beach here is a list of the most common elements.

• Sand
• Shells
• Seaweed
• Wood
• Organisms
• Rocks
• Fish

As you might guess tides are the main way beaches are formed due to the waves and currents, as they move around the debris and sediments from one beach to another.

Every day these beaches are forever changing. Altering weather and tides are bringing floods of new materials while removing other beach particles away.

Materials Found On Long Beaches

• Volcanic rock (Black)
• Quartz crystal or silica (White)
• Coral (Pink)
• Iron (Red)
• Manganese garnet (Orange)
• Olivine (Green)
• Garnet/Quartz (Purple)

Some of these colours are much rarer than others (like the pink beaches), but overall, they exemplify just how beaches can be made out of various minerals (or materials depending on the type of beach).

What Is Found At The Longest Beaches

Typically due to the remote location of these beaches, you are going to find these are landscaped with a lot of shrubbery and grasslands.

On some of these beaches, you will also find mangroves and rocky ledges or cliffs that can break up the beach shore. Many beaches will also have uprooted broken trees scattered along the beachfront.

One of these beaches, 75 Mile Beach (Fraser Island) located in Queensland, is a well-known beach that you can drive along in a 4wd! Many people choose to visit this super long beach and take up the opportunity to drive up its amazing coastline.

Fishing is also a great idea on this long beach and many choose to throw a line in the waters to catch a fish or two. Swimming is not recommended but in some areas people still do.

Whales are also seen off the beach from July to October so keep a lookout if you visit at that time.

Ninety Mile Beach is located in Victoria, it’s also very well known for its fishing and swimming, of course going for a walk on the beach can also be fun.

I don’t know about going on a 90-mile walk, but a good 2km might suffice for many people while they are here. Go dolphin-spotting along the beach or just lazing around while in the sun.

Is A Longer Beach Safer To Visit?

While the answer here could be as long as a piece of string, I’m going to cover the answer with more thought. Most of the long beaches featured here say that swimming is not 100% recommended due to several reasons.

Many of these beaches are in remote locations and all have elements of dangers that are found lurking in the waters. Australian waters are well known for sharks and in some areas also crocodiles too!

Some of the less-known creatures are the ones that you cant see like the Irukandji jellyfish these are very tiny so small that you can hardly see them in fact.

So always remember beach safety and look up the area you’re going to visit before you enter the waters.

What Dangerous Wildlife Is Found At The Longest Beaches

While many beaches all have their own dangers, any of these remote locations can have problems with animals, even the longest beaches in Australia have many different types of wildlife.

Please make sure you check each location before you visit them, below is a small chart table of common wildlife found in each state of Australia.

Feature image used with care of environment.sa.gov.au