Wineglass Bay is Tasmania’s postcard – but its crowds bleach the soul. Further south, beaches swallow footsteps in 10 minutes, shipwreck ribs protrude from dunes, and you’ll find more fairy penguins than people. These 7 shores are swept clean by Roaring Forties winds – come prepared to be erased.

1. Bay of Fires’ Northern Sanctum (Binalong Bay)

Why untouched: Tourists cluster at Swimcart Beach – few drive 15 mins north.
The Experience:

• Walk orange granite cathedrals at Grants Lagoon – lichen glows blood-red at sunset.
• Forage for abalone in tidal pools – shuck with pocket knife, eat raw with lemon myrtle.
  Key Details:
• 🚗 Access: 2.5hrs from Launceston; last 8km unsealed
• ⛺ Camp: Free at Cosy Corner North (pit toilets, no water)
• 🦀 Wildlife: Oystercatchers, migrating whales (May-Oct)
  Caution: “Riptides at Gardens Lagoon – swim only in waist-deep turquoise coves.”

2. Crescent Bay (Tasman Peninsula)

Why secret: Mistaken as “just” a view from Remarkable Cave – requires 90-min hike.
The Experience:

• Scale dragon-backed dunes to find a mile of quartz sand flanked by 300m sea cliffs.
• Discover Aboriginal middens – ancient oyster shell mounds taller than you.
  Key Details:
• 🥾 Hike: 6km return from Remarkable Cave carpark (rocky descent)
• 🚫 Rule: No drones – peregrine falcon nesting zone
• 🍱 Eat: Pack smoked wallaby sandwiches from Port Arthur Lavender Farm
  Insider Insight: “Walk south end at low tide – secret sea caves hold 1800s whaler graffiti.”

3. Cox Bight (Southwest Wilderness) – The Roaring Forties Arena

Why apocalyptic: A 7km crescent pounded by Antarctica-bound swells where shipwreck timbers sprout from dunes like grave markers.
The Experience:

• Trek the South Coast Track (6 days from Melaleuca) to reach this beach – your first sight: 10,000 short-tailed shearwaters performing death-dances after 15,000km migrations from Siberia.
• Camp in dune hollows scoured by salt winds, waking to find your footprints erased by midnight tides.
  Key Details:
• 🥾 Access: 85km wilderness hike or chartered light plane to Melaleuca ($480 AUD)
• ⚠️ Survival Gear: EPIRB distress beacon, neoprene wetsuit (for river crossings), tiger snake bandages
• 📅 Window: Feb-April (avoid winter “weather bombs”)
  Aboriginal Lore:

*”The Needwonnee people call this tayaritja – ‘where spirits walk backward.’ Never whistle at night; it calls muttonbird ghosts from mass graves of 19th-century hunters.”*

4. Shell Island (Furneaux Group) – The Singing Shore

Why surreal: A beach made entirely of 40-million-year-old fossils that chime like glass when waves retreat.
The Experience:

• Walk at low tide to hear the “Fossil Harp” – a C# harmonic created by seawater sucking through prehistoric scallop shells.
• Collect Thylacine teeth fossils among sea potatoes (washed-up seagrass bulbs) – but only those smaller than your thumbnail (TAS Parks law).
  Key Details:
• 🛶 Access: Kayak from Cape Barren Island (rentals @ Cape Barren Adventures, $80/day)
• ⏳ Tide Secret: Sound peaks 1hr 22mins after moonrise (use TideAlert app)
• 🔍 Fossil Rules: White tags = take; red tags = scientifically significant (leave untouched)
  Geologist Tip:

“The pink shells are Claricia clarkei – extinct before dinosaurs. Hold one to your ear: you’ll hear Gondwana breaking apart.”

5. Temma Rivermouth (Tarkine) – The Drowned Forest

Why haunting: Dead myrtle trees stand in saltwater like bone hands, guarding Aboriginal stone fish traps older than Egypt’s pyramids.
The Experience:

• Wade through skeletal groves at high tide to find stone-walled channels where Palawa trapped flounder for 12,000 years.
• Dig for greenstone hand axes in peat banks – but always rebury replicas you’ll be given (originals contain ancestral puwairi spirits).
  Key Details:
• 🚙 Access: 4WD via Western Explorer Rd (last 18km requires winch experience)
• 🗺️ Sacred Sites: Download TAC-approved coordinates after cultural briefing in Smithton
• 🦑 Eat: Bring leatherwood honey to swap for freshly speared squid with local trappers
  Warning:

“Never cross the rivermouth sandbar without tying yourself to shore – rogue waves arrive without sound.”

6. The Lanterns (Maria Island) – Bioluminescent Bay

Why magical: At night, glow-in-the-dark cuttlefish wash ashore, lighting waves electric blue as they die.
The Experience:

• Kayak through neon surf after storms (Feb–Mar), followed by quolls hunting the beached cuttlefish under bloodwood trees.
• Camp in the Convict Probation Station ruins – graffiti from 1842 prisoners still visible by cuttlefish light.
  Key Details:
• ⛺ Camping: Free but register at Darlington (max 2 nights)
• 🚣 Tours: Bio Bay Kayaks ($160) provides UV-reactive paddles
• 🌌 Viewing Peak: 3 nights after new moon
  Ecology Note:

“Tread lightly: each glowing cuttlefish contains 8,000 eggs. Step over – never on – their dying light.”

7. Mermaid’s Purse (King Island) – The Whale Graveyard

Why sacred: Southern right whales beach here to die – their skeletons bleach into ivory temples in dune valleys.
The Experience:

• Walk among 12 whale arches formed by ribs and vertebrae – tallest is “Cathedral” (9m high, from a 1901 whaling escapee).
• Join Aboriginal rangers in bone mapping – documenting calcium leaching into dunes to heal colonial whaling scars.
  Key Details:
• ✈️ Access: Rex Airlines flight to King Island, then 4WD to Lavinia State Reserve
• ⚠️ Protocol: Never touch bones without ochre-painted hands (kits provided)
• 🕯️ Ceremony: Annual “Whale Return” at winter solstice – sing lost calves back to sea
  Final Truth:

“These beaches remember every footprint. Walk with the grief of 50,000 slaughtered whales, and the joy of 87 calves born since the sanctuary opened.”

The Ghost Beach Codex: Survival & Soul

Conservation Mandate:

“Take nothing but resonance. Leave nothing but reversed footprints. Kill nothing but time.”