10 Beautiful Australian Beaches You Must See Immediately

Australia is famous for having an abundance of breathtaking, bone white beaches with crystal clear water.

There are over 10,000 beaches in Australia, which means that if you visited one every day it would take you over 29 years to see them all!! It also means that it is near impossible not to find one that you fall in love with. Here's a post of 10 beaches you definitely must see and for more, check out this complete backpacking travel guide to Australia.

Whether you are looking for iconic, popular beaches like the Whitsundays or Sydney's Manly Beach:

Or tranquil, deserted beaches like Western Australia's Hopetoun:

No mater what type of beach you love, Australia will cater for you.

Thanks to House Sitting, we were able to spend nine months living rent-free in Australia. This gave us a lot of time to explore some of Australia's best beaches. Here are 10 beautiful Australian beaches which we think you must see immediately:

1. Kingscote, South Australia

Some of the best beaches on Kangaroo Island are in Kingscote. Despite Kingscote being Kangaroo Island's largest town, the beaches are empty:

Empty of people that is, they are abundant with nature: we saw our first pelicans here and, more interestingly, our first wild seals! New Zealand Fur Seals often bask in the sun and play in the water:

Kingscote is also home to a colony of Little Penguins. You can even watch them being fed at 5pm every day.

Kangaroo Island is reported to have the second cleanest air in the world (after Antarctica). After spending time in the glassy water we could really believe it.

2. Hopetoun, Western Australia

Compared to Hopetoun though, Kingscote is packed. In Kingscote you'll probably see four or five people on the beach, and if you step back into town you'll see a lot more. In Hopetoun you can go for days without seeing people.

Hopetoun is by far the most remote place we've ever been to. The nearest city is Perth, which is a 7 hour drive away.
But the beauty of the beaches made up for their isolation. We were House Sitting two lovely dogs here, which meant that we stayed in this paradise for free, and we have lots of photos of us walking the dogs on the beach:

I mean chasing after them on the beach

This beach was perfect for swimming, the water was warm and shallow for quite a long stretch:

These beaches also had wildlife, a couple of (scary) snakes and a cute Blue Tongued Skink:

We loved the peacefulness of Kingscote and Hopetoun and the wildlife that came with it, but it was nice to shake things up and visit some more popular Australian beaches too :

3. Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast lives up to its name - it's miles and miles of golden sand.

One our favourite things about the Gold Coast was the fact that the sky scrapers are on the beach:

So if you love beach life and city life there's no need to choose between the two - at the Gold Coast you can have them both!

Our other favourite thing about the Gold Coast was the surfing. If you love surfing this will be the place for you, I mean it's called Surfers' Paradise:

But what if you've never tried surfing? Don't worry you can start here - they have lots of beginners surf lessons and, again, it's called Surfers' Paradise! How can you not surf there?

We took one of these beginner lessons and enjoyed it immensely.

If you're looking to chill out on the beach though, don't worry, whilst the Gold Coast is indeed (much) more crowded than Hopetoun, it's also super long so there are still plenty of (near) deserted parts.

Even on New Year's Eve, which is probably the beaches' busiest day of the year, you could still find an empty bit:

In fact, we highly recommend New Year's Eve on the Gold Coast. As it's Australia's summer it's warm (even at night). They set up a DJ on the beach and the atmosphere is epic. They also set off beautiful fireworks at night:

It was the best New Years Eve ever.

Though be warned, drinking outside is not permitted in Australia. Lots of people brought their drinks out onto the beach and then the police came round and confiscated them. (Apart from the people who hid their drinks in the sand.)

4. Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle is the second oldest city in Australia. It's about an hour north from Sydney and we were lucky enough to House Sit there.

Newcastle boasts two things: it has produced more ballet dancers than any other Australian city AND it houses the largest open bath in the Southern Hemisphere (Merewether Baths).

In total, there are 6 beaches in the city and many more further down the coast. The city ones are relatively crowded (not crowded by the Gold Coast standards, but more crowded than Hopetoun or Kingscote):

But the beaches a little bit further down (or up) are often deserted. And gorgeous.

I'm kind of biased though, Tanbay asked me to marry me on one of these beaches:

Plus they have the best fish and chips there (sorry England).

5. Bondi, New South Wales

Bondi is a 30 minute trip from Sydney. Like the Gold Coast, this is another iconic beach in Australia and, like the Gold Coast, it's iconic for a reason.

The beach is quite small and there are lots of cute little houses surrounding it. As it's a popular tourist destination, there are lots of cool little shops and places to eat right next to the beach. You can also hire surfboards here.

6. Geelong, Victoria

Geelong is a cute city in Victoria which loves its football club (the Mighty Cats). We had a hard time deciding wether St Kilda or Geelong should get the top spot as our favourite Victorian beach. St Kilda has lots of cool hippy shops and even a theme park. But in the end Geelong won. Party because there were lots of cool jelly fish there to look at:

and partly because you can ride in a helicopter there, which we did:

7. Seal Bay, South Australia

Whilst Seal Bay is actual devoid of seals, it has something just as good, Sea Lions:

You do actually have to pay to visit this beach, but it's 100% worth it, the money goes towards protecting the sea lions and you get to be very close to them (without disturbing them):

8. Kingscliff, New South Wales

Kingscliff is fun to swim/ surf in or at least it was when we were there because the waves were super rough!

One of our lovely Home Owners took us fishing here and whilst we didn't catch anything we had a wonderful day and saw wild dolphins!

9. Trigg Beach, Western Australia

This beach is pretty near Perth and is perfect (Perthect). We loved all the beaches that we went to near Perth - Waterman's, Scarborough and Marmion, but Scarborough won because we went sand dune jumping there:

10. Manly, New South Wales

This is another of Sydney's famous beaches. It was named Manly, because the British governor of New South Wales found the natives so 'manly' (oo er).

Manly is famous for being the birthplace of Australian surfing. It's one of the world's surfing reserves (there are only five)! Plus the first body-surfing contest happened in Manly. So we had to give body-surfing a try for the first time here, and we did:

I saw a little sting ray in the water. I knew Steve Irwin had died from a sting ray and the beach was packed. I didn't want to alarm anyone, but I asked the boy we were staying with if we should get out of the water. He laughed at me and said only if it was a shark. Hahaha.

Really though sting-rays aren't dangerous. The beach and water are beautiful and the people there were all really mellow. There is a really great backpackery vibe in the town next door.

So there you have it, 10 beautiful Australian beaches which, we think, you must see immediately.

Have you been to Australia? What do you think the most beautiful beach is in Australia and why?

If you haven't been to Australia which do you think is the most beautiful beach from this list?

Let us know in the comments below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even Snapchat (travelweasels).

We were able to live in Australia and visit these beautiful beaches (and so many more) thanks to House Sitting.

We find most of our fantastic House Sits on TrustedHouseSitters and we are happy to give you a 10% discount to them if you click that link.

ABOUTME

We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.