Iluka’s Main Beach is 2.5 kilometres of pure beach joy!

The extreme south end, up against the rock wall that herds the Clarence River out to sea, is a surf spot of unique note – incoming swells refract off the rock wall and ricochet back, creating an unusually powerful ‘wedge’ shaped wave. This is on the To Do list of any visiting surfer.

From the north end of main beach you can history spot with remains of an old railway track sometimes visible at low tide. There is even the occasional wheel emerging from the sands. This is a remnant from the tramway built to carry rocks from the headland to create the wall at the north end of the beach in the late 1800s. There’s also some pretty cool rock formations to check out.

And in-between these bookends? Iluka Main beach is dog friendly, and 4WD-friendly at low tide, but council permission must be sought. It’s a big, broad, robust beauty of a thing.

The carpark includes a shower and toilets, so you can wash off before heading to pick up fish and chips for lunch from the nearby takeaway. What a day!