Lighthouse Beach (NSW 172) trends straight southwest from Watonga Rocks for 10.2 km, to the usually closed entrance to Lake Cathie (Fig. 4.94). The northern kilometre is backed by residential housing, then a caravan park and golf course, with a small creek draining across the beach 500 m south of the rocks. Most of the beach is backed by a natural 10-20 m high foredune, then Ocean Drive, with a few access points towards the southern end. Much of the western side of the road is part of the Lake Innes Nature Reserve, which includes the 700 ha Lake Innes and 50 ha Lake Cathie, each connected by Cathie Creek. The entire beach has a well-developed double bar system, with an attached inner bar often cut by rips every 300-400 m, and an outer bar with more widely spaced rips. The long beach is backed by a natural foredune, and in the south Pleistocene coffee rock outcrops on the beach. read more

Beach Length: 10.2km