Aerial view of Whitehaven Beach
It’s a balmy 27 degrees. The warm winter sun streams through the car window. As I step on the accelerator, I watch as a congested strip of retail chains and fast food outlets shrink from sight in the rear view mirror. Soon the busyness of Cairns makes way to a sea of vivid green cane fields, with the mist shrouded peaks of the Atherton Tableland as a backdrop. We’ve come in search of Queensland’s hidden beaches. Sure we’ve all heard of the famous Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas, Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday’s, Noosa’s Main Beach and lovely, tropical Mission Beach, but we want to see the secret jewels – the ones the locals don’t always tell you about. We want to go where there is barely another footprint and hold hands as we stroll along secluded beaches. We want to breathe deep, feel our pulse return to normal and get to know each other again.
By chance a colleague suggests taking the Great Green Way between Cairns and Townsville, which is how we found ourselves, on a lazy, blue-sky afternoon, turning off the Bruce Highway just after Innisfail in search of secret beach number one. As we pass though cane fields and lush countryside, the road winds its way upward and on the crest we look down on a gorgeous secluded bay, fringed by lush foliage at one end and a rocky headland at the other.
As we make our way down to Etty Bay, vivid-blue Ulysses butterflies flit from tree to tree and we keep our eyes peeled for the elusive cassowary. At the kiosk attached to the caravan park, we tuck into crisp, golden fish and chips while overlooking the secluded beach fringed by palm trees. Robyn and her husband from Deception Bay near Brisbane have visited Etty Bay every year for the past decade and stay at the one and only caravan park which fronts the beach. “When the sun’s out and the wind’s still, the water shimmers like glass,” Robyn said, adding hastily “But don’t tell too many people about this place. It’s our secret.”
Pushing on, we head south towards Mission Beach, at the heart of two World Heritage areas, the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforests of the Wet Tropics. But just before hitting town, we stumble upon the little-known gem of Bingal Bay, a picturesque rainforest-fringed inlet with magical views over the Coral Sea to Dunk Island. There’s nothing here apart from an amenities block, and a lovely curve of sand lined by swaying coconut palms. Little crabs scatter about the rocks and we find ourselves completely alone. We spread out a picnic blanket on the sand, open a bottle of wine and enjoy the seclusion. Later we discover we’re not the first to have Bingal Bay cast its spell. In the early 1960′s Prime Minister Harold Holt would escape Melbourne’s winter and spend his birthday at his private Bingal Bay retreat. Today it looks pretty much how it must have then, and we can see why he liked it.
After soaking up the last of the afternoon rays, we make the short drive to Mission Beach, which is how Port Douglas must have looked 20 years ago. It’s one of the most popular beach destinations in Far North Queensland, but retains a laidback, uncommercial feel. Surrounded by rainforests inhabited by the rare cassowary, the beaches here, including Bingal Bay, are recognised the world over for their environmental importance. It’s also the jumping-off point for many famous island resorts such as Dunk Island Resort and Bedarra Island Resort. That night we have an ale or two at Piccolo’s, a friendly local pub, before sauntering over to the Shrubbery Taverna for a candlelit dinner. I tuck into a spicy green chicken curry with pappadums in the balmy, open-air courtyard and later drift off to sleep with the sounds of the rainforest infiltrating my dreams.
It’s an early start the next day for the trip to magical Hinchinbrook Island. Standing on the jetty at the small township of Cardwell, an hour’s drive south, the water is a palette of blues and purples with Hinchinbrook Island looming invitingly out of the calm, mirror-like sea. A fisherman and his son are casting lures for barramundi, and tell us they’ve just narrowly missed landing a big one.
A full-day tour allows you to explore this pristine island’s tropical rainforests, water channels and beautiful ocean beaches that are fringed by reefs and seagrass beds. Explore Stoney Creek, the internationally-acclaimed 22-kilometre Thorsborne Trail, the waterfall, and take in lovely views from the lookouts. One of the island’s most special beaches is the deserted Ramsay Bay on the eastern side, fringed by a high dune that extends through scrubland to an estuary. Throw in a line, have a champagne picnic and soak up the serenity of this special island, which is entirely national park.
Back on the mainland, we enjoy a romantic night at the quirky Noorla Heritage Resort, a grand heritage hotel with strong Italian roots, in the town of Ingham. We sample several wines in the cosy bar, and then have dinner out on the open-air verandah – celebrating the discovery that we’re expecting our first child. It’s hard to leave our hosts Joe and Jennie’s generous hospitality the next morning. Nonetheless Magnetic Island is calling our name.
After a spectacular flight over Magnetic with Fly Scenic Townsville and out to the Barrier Reef, we find ourselves a short ferry ride later, exploring the untouched beauty of the this World Heritage-listed island. We spot a koala in the local schoolyard, see a sea eagle hunting dinner for its young, watch as inquisitive curlews and a native white-tipped rat turn up for dinner at alfresco restaurants, and observe rock wallabies scampering over the boulders in front of our apartment.
There are many pretty, tropical, out-of-the-way beaches on Magnetic Island, but the one that stole our heart is Alma Bay. A small curve of sand with clear, turquoise water, it offers safe swimming and great snorkelling around the coral on the left-hand side of the beach.
Queensland’s a big place and has countless other hidden beaches but two worth seeking out lie further south – Agnes Water lies on the Discovery Coast between Bundaberg and Gladstone, just south of the Town of 1770; and the magical, unspoiled Cylinder Beach on North Stradbroke island, located 26 kilometres south east as the crow flies from Brisbane.
Publisher and photographer Paul Ewart, who had the enviable job of photographing Queensland’s beaches over a six-month period, singled out these two as his favourites. “Agnes Water is the northern most surfing beach in Queensland, and it’s the jumping off point to Lady Musgrove Island, which is one of the prettiest islands in Australia. Yet I’ve never seen a crowd there, and if you stand at the beach’s southern end you can see a spectacular sunset”.
Ewart’s other favourite, Cylinder Beach, is a north-facing, protected inlet located between two islands overlooking the tall sand dunes of Moreton Island. “Having spent the last 35 years visiting Cylinder Beach, whenever I or my children are overseas, we dream of returning there”.
While it’s standing-room-only at Noosa and the Gold Coast at Christmas and school holiday time, it’s rare, even at peak periods to see anything resembling a throng at Queensland’s hidden beaches. As we stroll barefoot along Bingal Bay, collecting seashells and dreaming of our family to be, our footprints are the only ones to mark the golden sand. It is this which makes Queensland’s secret beaches so very special. (Author: Sheriden Rhodes on behalf of Tourism Australia.)