Tassie’s little beach that’s up there with the best

IT may not share the prestige of Wineglass Bay, but Boat Harbour Beach, on Tasmania’s North-West Coast, is certainly one of the state’s hidden gems.

Boat Harbour

IT may not share the prestige of Wineglass Bay, but Boat Harbour Beach, on Tasmania’s North-West Coast, is certainly one of the state’s hidden gems.

So much so, it has just been named in Australia’s top 10 beaches on Brad Farmer’s list of Australia’s 101 Best Beaches for 2017.

The founder of Ocean Care Day and the Surfriders Foundation, Mr Farmer spent five months researching Australia’s 11,761 beaches to compile the list, with the help of Sydney University coastal studies expert Professor Andrew Short. And a little beach on the edge of Bass Strait, 15km north-west of Wynyard, came in ninth.

But Waratah-Wynyard Councillor and Boat Harbour Beach resident Darren Fairbrother said he was not too surprised the beach made the top 10.

“It is one of Tasmania’s best kept secrets,” Cr Fairbrother said. “The water and the sand adds to it, but the ‘special-ness’ of the beach is the quaintness of the buildings that are here ... they add to the character of the place.”

Cr Fairbrother said this time of year the town also experienced an influx of people from the mainland.

Other Tasmanian beaches in the top 101 were: Wineglass Bay, Pirates Bay, Cosy Corner, Diamond Island, Marrawah Beach, Adventure Bay, Trousers Beach, British Admiral Beach and Ocean Beach.

MORE: AUSTRALIA’S BEST KEPT BEACH SECRET IS OUT

Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said it was exciting to have so many beaches on the list, despite one notable omission in Binalong Bay in the Bay of Fires.

“To have so many on the list is a good thing [but] with these things they try not to go for the obvious,” Mr Martin said. “Boat Harbour Beach is not one of the usual suspects and one of the things that the North-West doesn’t capitalise on is its beautiful beaches.”

The No.1 beach was Cossies Beach on Cocos Keeling Island, which is off the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean.

Originally published as Tassie’s little beach that’s up there with the best