TARKINE COAST BEACH FUN

I was going to start with all dogs enjoy a swim no matter the temperature of the water. Then had to rethink that as not ALL dogs enjoy a swim. So, although this blog post is about some of the dog friendly beaches along the Tarkine Coast on the North West of Tasmania, if your dog doesn’t enjoy swimming they can still have fun along the sandy shores, exploring the rocks or simply dipping their paws in the ocean edge.

Finding the best dog friendly places that allow your dog to cool off in the heat or have a whale of a time splashing and swimming can be a problem with summer restrictions in some parts of Tasmania. We’ve come up with four beaches in our home patch, the Tarkine Coast, that we have personally visited and think your dog will enjoy as much as mine do and are amazing to visit. I will post more about the other dog friendly beaches along the Tarkine in later blog posts.

Boat Harbour Beach

All right this may be just outside of the Tarkine Coast region it is one I had to include as it is only a hop, skip and jump away from us and we do visit regularly. Plus, it is quite simply a stunningly dog friendly beach to visit. Boat Harbour Beach regularly makes it onto Top Ten Beaches around the world to visit in various publications.

Come off the Bass Highway from either Burnie or Stanley direction and follow the signs. As you come down the side of the escarpment the white quartzite sands which could rival the Bay of Fires, and the astonishing aqua waters (on a sunny day) are revealed to you. Don’t forget to stop at the lookout on the left on the way down for photos or stop on the way out in the little siding just past the red rustic Bedford truck for some photos.

The sheltered beach is not large but the amazing white sands, fabulous for lazing about on or throwing a frisbee for your dog, clear aqua sea, black rock pools (when the tide is out) and the orange red lichen rocks make for fabulous swimming, exploring and photo opportunities with your dog.

When you’ve finished swimming or walking along the shore pop up to Seekers Bar & Café for some Breakfast with your dog,  sit out on the deck and gaze out on the beautiful vista before you.

Restrictions do apply with dogs ON LEAD between 10am and 6pm. Outside of those times dogs are allowed OFF LEAD. This makes for great sunset and sunrise photos, or a cool down at the end of a sweltering day.

Boat Harbour Bach is named after Captain John Jacobs – back in the 1830’s it was called Jacobs Boat Harbour before the Jacob was dropped. The good Captain used to ply his schooner the “Edward’ along the coast for the Van Diemen’s Land Co.

Detention River

Drive further along the Bass Highway in the direction of Smithton and you will come to the little community of Hellyer/Detention River. This is my local haunt for dog friendly beach to go swimming. It rates highly on my list because it is both a lovely long beach and tidal river that offers a great one way hike from here all the way to Port Latta if timed right with the tides (more on that for another blog post), or you can walk up river a ways with the tide out to the start of the mud flats, this is marked where the house on the hill up on the left is. The Detention River and Pebbly Bay is dog friendly, safe for dog friendly activities like paddleboards and kayaks. The Pebbly Bay  inside the river mouth, makes for fantastic safe sheltered dog friendly swimming.

Depending on when you go to the river the water changes colour. With the tide going out it gradually changes to the tannin-stained clear red brown colour typical of so many of Tasmania’s rivers. Catch the tide coming in and you can watch this transform into the incredible aqua colour of the sea, again such a typical colour along the coast here.

It is dogs ON LEAD along the beach, and just inside the bay area but go further up or out into the bay for swimming and you will find you can have your dog OFF LEAD. During the summer holidays and warm weekends, the bay can be busy with families and children, so my recommendation once down in the bay is to go to the right along the sandy shore and further up into the second little bay for some safe doggy swimming.

Green Hills Beach, Stanley

I have not been able to find a name for this beach but as Green Hills Road leads down to the bay I am going to call it Green Hills Beach.

This little hidden spot at Stanley has a little grassy patch overlooking the mouth of the West Inlet. I have seen the occasional Van/Campervan/RV parked here for overnight. There are no facilities here what so ever so if you did camp you would need to be completely self-sufficient. The downside is that it is incredibly open to windy weather, there is no shade or trees for protection.

I have often seen large numbers of black Swans paddling about in the bay eating the seagrass, they are usually far enough out not to be bothered by dogs running along the beach. There is plenty of native Saltbush along the coast here and if you have access to ‘Eat Wild Tasmanian’ by Rees Campbell there are instructions on how to make Saltbush chips.

From the grassy patch you walk along the shore and further along into the West Inlet. A word of warning is that the tide coming in or out of West Inlet through the channel rips through here and I wouldn’t have dogs swimming too far out from the shore into the channel inlet. The tide does seem to come in quick along here so don’t get caught out if walking along the beach. There would be a narrow strip of sand to walk along if caught.

Green Point Beach (Marrawah Beach)   

On maps this beach shows up as Green Point Beach, but the locals and surfers know it as Marrawah Beach, I certainly know it as Marrawah Beach too.

Marrawah Beach has always felt like the start of the adventure down to the Tarkine Drive for us as it is on the way to Arthur River and then a short drive into the World Heritage Area of the Tarkine.

Dog friendly Marrawah Beach can be extremely windy and wild as it is open to the wild weather known as the Roaring Forties  and the Southern Ocean swells, which is why you often see surfers  off the beach or just around the corner at Periwinkle Beach. On a calm day Marrawah beach is magic! Standing on the beach looking towards the right towards Mount Cameron West you can see the Bluff Point and Studland Bay Wind Farms.

Marrawah Beach has a dog friendly camp ground with toilets, single outdoor shower, and picnic spots with barbeque facilities. The camp grounds can be popular so first in best dressed as the saying goes.

Leaving Marrawah Beach from Beach Road turn right onto Green Point Road and follow the road round, then take the right turn onto Periwinkle Beach Road. If you are brave enough scramble up the rocks with your dog and watch the sea crashing against the rocky shoreline as you hang your legs over the edge. You will see surfers taking advantage of the rolling waves coming in from the west.

There are more little beaches that are not well know along the Tarkine Coast and we will explore these in later dog friendly places in Tasmania blog posts. In the meantime, you won’t be disappointed with these four gems.