Steamers Beach

Steamers Beach is an isolated ocean beach below high cliffs and steep sand dunes. I’d keep it on the list if you’re happy to walk for a remote stretch of shoreline, but this isn’t a pull-off. From Steamers Beach car park it’s 2.3 km each way, about an hour each way, through tall eucalypt forest and tea tree. The path ends in a steep flight of stairs, and you’ll climb those again on the way out. Wear sturdy shoes, save energy for the return, and bring drinking water and food for the outing.

The beach opens beneath steep, vegetated slopes and a high coastal headland. For a photo, frame the curve of the surf running toward the pale cliff face, with the wooded slope behind it; that gives the shoreline a sense of scale.

The dunes have an unusual colour for Booderee and may have been deposited by a tsunami. That’s a proposed explanation rather than a fully documented local story, so take it as a theory.

Swimming isn’t recommended here: the exposed shore can have strong surf, rips and currents, and there are warnings about large sharks. Make this a walk, picnic and coastal-view stop. The park points visitors to more sheltered beaches such as Kittys Beach or Whiting Beach for swimming.