One of my most popular posts revealed ten secret beaches near Hobart. So well-endowed is the region with beaches, I’ve decided it’s time to share a few more. These beaches might not actually be secret, but they are little visited and one will often have miles of coast entirely to oneself when visiting, even in summer.
Roches Beach
Roches Beach extends from the northern end of Lauderdale Beach, a suburb on the western side of Frederick Henry Bay. It is home to a sailing club and the starting point for a scenic short walking track around the foreshore to Seven Mile Beach.
Seven Mile Beach
Most visitors to Hobart visit Seven Mile Beach, even if they don’t know it, and generally only from a height of several hundred feet as their aircraft makes its final approach to Hobart Airport. Popular with locals, the far Eastern end of the beach is rarely visited as it takes more than an hour and a half to walk even starting at the carpark beyond the airport.
Opossum Bay
This sweet little beach is on the crook of South Arm, facing across the River Derwent towards Taroona and Kingston. Once a place of holiday homes, many now live here full time and commute the half hour or so into Hobart. Consequently the traditional shacks that crowd the shore are being replaced by more substantial and elaborate homes.
There is a very funky new jetty at Opossum Bay. A ferry trip from Hobart to here was a popular staple end-of-year school outing during my school days and I suspect for earlier generations, echoing the days when ferries were a primary means of transport up and down the Derwent River, Dentrecasteaux Channel, Huon River and beyond. Now it seems mostly used for fishing and swimming, but maybe the ferries will return one day.
South Arm’s hidden beaches – Fort and Goats
Fort Beach, right at the mouth of the River Derwent, is only accessible by crossing a military defence area qualifying it as a bit of a local secret. This is at the tip of South Arm, adjacent to Fort Direction. While the army seems happy for members of the public to walk along the foreshore to the beach, the signage above the beach is decidedly ambiguous about whether walkers are permitted on the beautifully built tracks around the cape or not.
It’s a pretty amazing spot, looking right across the mouth of the Derwent and on, down the eastern side of North Bruny and into Storm Bay. That’s the Iron Pot Lighthouse off in the distance.
Goats Beach is on the cusp of Storm Bay, Frederick Henry Bay and the Southern Ocean, with views to Betsy Island. Popular with surfers, the tides and rips are pretty dangerous and this unpatrolled beach should be treated with respect by swimmers.
Clifton Beach and Cape Deslacs
On the western side of Frederick Henry Bay, Clifton Beach faces south and offers waves from the Southern Ocean that attract surfers. It also boasts a surf club and homes for many who commute 20 minutes or so into Hobart. Cape Deslacs projects from the end of the beach out into Frederick Henry Bay. It is a major shearwater rookery and nature reserve, with a walking track offering clifftop views across to the Tasman Peninsula and north to Seven Mile Beach and Hobart Airport.
Dodges Ferry
Not a big beach, but a very sheltered one with substantial weathered sandstone outcrops and a collection of unrenovated boathouses. Dodges Ferry is on the Eastern side of Frederick Henry Bay, and popular with holiday makers and commuters who travel daily into Hobart.
Park/Carlton Beach
Popular with surfers and home to a surf lifesaving club, this long stretch of sand runs from the headland to the south of Dodges Ferry to the mouth of the Carlton River. At its northern end it is known as Park Beach, but it changes its name to Carlton Beach at some uncertain point along its length.
Marion Bay
Located at the southern end of Tasmania’s East Coast, Marion Bay offers heavy surf and views across to Maria Island and to the top end of the Forestier Peninsula. A nearby property hosts the Falls Festival at Marion Bay between Christmas and New Year.
Conningham Beach
A sheltered spot on North West Bay, popular with families and for boating and kayaking.
