West Australian & Northern Territory Nude Beaches

Western Australia

Nth Swanbourne Beach – Unofficial
This is one of Australia’s most popular nude beaches, and very close to the Perth CBD. If you are planning to go to North Swanbourne it is a good idea to get out there early. Almost every day at around 11.00 am a strong south westerly sea breeze springs up, making conditions a little unpleasant. It is commonly known to the locals as the Fremantle Doctor because it saves Perth from sweltering in the midday heat on a hot summer's day.
    To get to North Swanbourne Beach from Perth take the Stirling Highway south to Eric Street and continue west to the coast. Turn right into Marine Parade and follow this into the Swanbourne Beach car park. From here it is only a 300 metre walk north along the beach to the clothes optional area. 

Warnbro Beach - Legal
Warnbro Beach near the coastal town of Rockingham, about 53 km south of Perth, has just recently been granted legal dress optional status, after many years of lobbying. The best time to enjoy this beach is in the morning. The firm clean sand, the crystal clear water, and the gentle waves makes swimming safe for even young children. But later in the day, when the south westerly sea breezes get up it can get to be quite unpleasant unless you have taken along a good wind break.
    To get to Warnbro Beach head south along Rockingham Road and turn left into Read Street. After about 6.2 km it crosses over Safety Bay Road and changes to Warnbro Sound Drive. From here continue for another 2.7 km then turn right into Grand Ocean Boulevard. Continue along this street as it curves gently left. Turn right at Bayeux Avenue (on the corner before a park with a little lake and fountain). Go to the car park at the end of Bayeux Avenue and take the walkway over the dunes to the beach. The "free" part of the beach is to the left. If you want access to the southern end of the beach, drive to the car park at Port Kennedy and walk back or utilise the excellent bicycle path that runs the length of the beach between the golf course and the dunes. Checkout Bayeux Ave on http://www.whereis.com.au
   The local Shire Council has done a lot of work in this area to try and stabilise the sand dunes and vegetation, so please take extra care not to unwittingly undo their good work by walking or driving where you should not be. By the way there are no facilities here at all so take everything you need with you.

Bunbury – Unofficial
This beach is situated at the northern end of Geographe Bay, on the Indian Ocean about 180 km south of Perth. It is protected by the headland Cape Naturaliste. The beach is backed by the "Maidens", an A Class Nature Reserve of sand dunes with an abundance of wild life, which gives the area a certain amount of privacy.
    To get to the beach drive south from Bunbury along Ocean Drive to the car park opposite the end of Hastie Street. Take the steps to the beach and turn left, or south, and walk for approximately 600 metres. 

Ten Mile Lagoon – Legal
The seaside town of Esperance is situated approximately 1000 km from Perth, on the south coast to the western end of the Great Australian Bight. In 1983, following several complaints about nude bathing on some of the regular family beaches, the local shire council decided to solve the problem by designating one beach where people could go nude legally. Nine Mile Beach was suitably signposted and included on tourist information leaflets and roadside location guides.
    Since then the signs have been moved about one mile west to an area known as Ten Mile Lagoon. It has an off shore reef making it into a lagoon, so the surfers and fisherman don't go to it as they did to Nine Mile Beach. Travel some 17 km west of the town along the coastal road,  slightly past the entrance into the second wind generating farm. Access to the beach is via steps down the steep slope. The eastern boundary starts at the steps where they join the beach and continues one kilometre west of that point. Naturists going nude outside these boundaries may run into trouble from shire rangers and others. Dogs are allowed on the beach.
    Offshore is the Archipelago of the Recherche, a maze of 87 islands with 70 rocks and reefs above water and countless submerged reefs. It is a divers' and naturists' paradise. The best weather is January to the end of May. There are seven caravan parks close by. Other than the clothes optional beach Esperance has many points of interest, a notable one being the famous Pink Lake.

Cable Beach - Legal
Lying some 2200 km north of Perth and well inside the tropics the summer months in Broome are quite hot and humid with maximum temperatures of around 35 degrees Celsius. However, from April to September, with little rain and daytime temperatures in the mid twenties, it is an ideal place to escape the southern winters. Cable Beach is situated 7 km from town along a good bitumen road. The beach itself is some 22.5 km long with beautiful white sand that sets so hard when the tide goes out that you scarcely leave foot prints at the water's edge. The water is crystal clear and the gentle swells hardly manage to topple over as they roll up onto the almost perfectly flat beach.
    The clothes optional area is to the north of the beach access road from the car park, and continues to the mouth of Willie Creek, some 17 km away. This would almost make it the longest clothes optional beach in the world. 4WD vehicles may be driven onto the beach from the car park. This allows people to explore the beach at low tide to a much greater extent than would be possible on foot.

Mauritius Beach - Legal
Mauritius Beach is located in the Exmouth area some 1200 km north of Perth. It is clearly signposted as a clothing optional beach on the main road from Exmouth to the national park. It is also shown on several tourist ‘map boards’ displayed for tourist information. Don’t expect to find large numbers of naturists there but it is a lovely beach. From the Exmouth township travel out along the Point Murat Road then turn left into Yardie Creek Road. Click on the map for an enlarged version.

For more information and details about naturism and clothing optional beaches in Western Australia go to this new web page which has recently been set up... Clothing Optional WA

Northern Territory

Casuarina Beach – Legal
Casuarina Beach is one of Darwin's best beaches and a section about 500 metres long was designated as a legal clothes optional area back in 1976, mainly due to lobbying by the members of the now defunct Darwin Sun Club.
    Most clothes optional beaches, both legal and unofficial, suffer from an acute lack of facilities such as toilets, car parks and so on. Not so at Casuarina. Here the Northern Territory Conservation Commission has provided all that, including outdoor showers to rinse off the sand and salt water.
    In years gone by this beach was very popular with naturist families, the children spending their time building sand castles whilst the more energetic adults took long walks in the nude, or joined in a chance game of cricket or volleyball. As mentioned above, swimming is restricted to the dry winter season, May to October because of the box jellyfish.
    To get to the Casuarina Free Beach from Darwin, travel along the Stuart Highway and turn left onto Bagot Road at the flyover. Continue on past McMillans Road (which is where the entrance to the airport is now) and the road will curve to the right and become Trower Road. From there continue on past Dripstone Rd and Casuarina Square which will be on the left and past Dripstone High School which will be on the right. Then it is right turn at a round-about into Dripstone Park continuing on past the picnic area and the Surf Life Saving Club and right on to the end of the road which becomes a car park. The legal nude bathing section is about 500 metre walk further on and is clearly signposted.