Princetown Beach

The meandering course of the Gellibrand River finds the sea beneath the bold headland of Pt Ronald. Wild and untamed; Princetown’s steep banked surging beach extends 800m east of Pt Ronald where it gives way to dunes, a series of crumbled headlands and small bays.

The remains of a 1906 engineering endeavor can be viewed as a strange gateway in the cliff at the base of Point Ronald. The gate fronts a tunnel bored through 90m of rock to the Southern Ocean beyond. Gates were opened in attempts to break a seasonal bar that periodically blocks the river mouth. Nowadays the bar is broken mechanically under a strict protocol when waters reach a preordained level. Access the beach via a 600m walk along the banks of the Gellibrand River.

Princetown Beach is located within the protected area of Twelve Apostles Marine National Park. An exclusion zone within this park allows for recreational fishing east of the headland at Princetown towards Rivernook beach.

Caution: Mouth conditions are notoriously perilous. Steep banks and complicated nearshore currents make this beach unsuitable for swimming in all conditions.