Breathtaking Beaches in Australia

Author: Sarah Buckman

Location: Newcastle, Australia

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Australia is notoriously known for having numerous beaches, all with different aspects worth exploring. So how do you decide which to visit? If you’re anything like me, you love spending a day at the beach more than anything and recognize they are all unique in their own way. Lucky for you, I have been blessed to visit many different beaches here and thought I would give you the insider scoop on what each one has to offer!

The first one is Newcastle Beach, which is one of the closest beaches to the Newcastle City Campus. It is only like a 20-minute walk through downtown and is a staple for most students who go to the University of Newcastle. Since Australia has incredible weather for almost all of their first semester, you will find most students on their days off, or after class hanging at the beach. The nearby area is very high-end, featuring hotels and restaurants, but you can still find some relatively cheap eats nearby! Newcastle beach also features a separate pool, full of seawater, that is perfect for a swim. A bonus sight that is a must-see is the Bogey Hole! Once you get to the Newcastle beach, it is only a half hour hike from there. It’s a gorgeous hike that allows you to see a great aerial view of the ocean, as well as the flora and fauna.

Another beach that is worth spending a day at is Nobbys Beach. From first glance it may not seem as interesting as the other ones listed, but it does not make it any less special. Nobbys has a fairly flat landscape compared to the other ones, making it perfect for a chill kind of day. Due to this kind of landscape, it’s a great place to go if you like to swim without the intense waves. After you have had your fill of relaxing, one of Nobbys best features is the Nobbys Lighthouse and Breakwall. After about a half hour walk you will find the lighthouse on top of the hill and then there is a breakwall that stretches on for another 20 minutes. Fair warning in advance, the breakwall gets slippery due to the huge waves that crash against it! So worth seeing.

Bar Beach is the next stop that is a must see for its natural beauty. It is a long beach, featuring tall rock features in the landscape. This is also the first beach that I visited and noticed Australia’s trend in having little pockets full of water that deserve a closer look! In some of these water pockets you will find them full of small fish, starfish, and some even have crabs. They are the coolest things to observe, and they alone are worth going to see. I saw not only starfish but even a couple of sea urchins! It was the most surreal moment to see them outside of an aquarium setting. Just another great beach to see purely for its unique landscape features. Once you have had your fill of nature, feel free to fill up on some hot grub! Bar beach is not only unique nature-wise, but also unique in its way of having some cute little stands to get some food from. This is, without a doubt, another beach worth seeing.

Now, if you want to see a beach in Australia that truly displays unique natural beauty, the one to go to is Caves Beach. As you can probably tell by the name, this beach does in fact have caves on it! They are big enough to explore and are so worth seeing! This beach also just has an abundance of rocks to climb on or swim around, making it an all-around exciting and adventurous kind of day. A bonus to this beach is the surfing! If you love to surf, or are interested in learning, this is the perfect beach to do it at! I went with our group of international students here to take a lesson and we had a blast! If you love to laugh at yourself, this is the perfect thing to try out. Overall, a fun filled day you will not regret.

Lastly, and probably the most well-known, Bondi Beach is a non-negotiable in the list of Australian Beaches to see. Yes, this beach is in fact the one featured in the show Bondi Rescue- so pro tip: if you are going to Bondi Beach, be prepared to tell everyone you know “yes this IS the beach from that show”, etc. because you will get asked about it greatly. Besides the fact, it too is a must-see place for its own reasons. There are plenty of cute touristy shops to hit up downtown as well as fantastic eats. The beach is also known for its street art that is ideal for pictures. If you enjoy skateboarding, be prepared to shred too! The skate park there is a popular place to hang at. Nature wise, besides the gorgeous shoreline, includes a hike to Mackenzies Point that is absolutely stunning to see at sunset. On the way there you will pass the Bondi Icebergs Pool which is another Bondi trip must. If you visit this beach, you will definitely want to make sure you set aside the whole day to experience it all.

Of course, these are just my top 5 recommendations to visit while you are in Australia. This only scratches the surface to the amount of beaches they have here! Every beach will give you a different experience that helps captivate the Australian culture. With every beach trip I take while I’ve been in Australia, it has shown me the beauty in finding times to relax throughout your study abroad trip—a very underrated thing every student that studies abroad should learn how to do!