Gym Beach

Gym Beach lies on the southern edge of the Innes National Park area, reached by a long stretch of unsealed road that keeps the crowds away. The reward is a wide, surf-washed beach with a small, no-frills bush campground set just behind the dunes — the kind of place where you wake to the sound of the swell and share the sand with almost no one.

The beach picks up consistent Southern Ocean swell, drawing surfers willing to make the drive, while beach fishers work the gutters for salmon and mullet. There is no power, no shop and patchy phone reception, so it suits self-sufficient travellers who come prepared.

It is the antidote to a busy holiday: a place to camp simply, fish at dawn and watch the sun drop into the ocean without another soul in sight.