Grand Ocean Strands

Long open shores facing the ocean, measured in kilometres rather than metres, with a horizon that is empty in both directions. Swell arrives unimpeded. Length brings its own conditions: unmediated swell, rip currents along most of these shores, and in several cases vehicle traffic on the sand, which is legal and normal on beaches gazetted as roads. Lifeguard cover is concentrated near towns and absent along the great majority of the distance. What these beaches offer instead of shelter is space, and several of them can be walked for an hour without meeting anybody at all. On the ones gazetted as roads the vehicles have right of way, which is worth knowing before walking out along the sand.