We have high standards for beaches in Australia. When you've grown up with picturesque shores on your doorstep, you understand what sets apart any old beach from the ones that are truly top-tier. Beaches with pristine waters, white sand, staggeringly beautiful cliff faces and colourful coral reefs are something that we're used to, but certainly don't take for granted.
And as it turns out, we've got some stats to confirm our sparkly shores are pretty spesh, with a new study finding Australia has (by far) the most beaches with crystal-clear water in Oceania.
American travel site Florida Panhandle analysed more than 2.4 million traveller reviews of 3,117 beaches across the globe, taking the 50 beaches that were ranked amongst Tripadvisor’s Traveller Favourites in each country and sorting them based on the percentage of reviews that contain the phrase “clear water”.
The findings revealed that Australia has the most beaches with pure, clear waters across Oceania, with eight of the top ten beaches located Down Under. Considering the continent takes in 14 countries and three of the world’s five oceans, that’s an impressive feat. But unfortunately, we didn’t secure the number one spot on the list, with the top place going to Champagne Beach in Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu.
In Australia, Parakeet Bay in Rottnest Island was named the beach with the clearest waters, followed by Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, which was also recently declared one of the top ten best beaches in the world. Next was Eli Creek in K’gari, followed by Emily Bay in Norfolk Island. The only other country to make it onto the top ten list was Samoa, with Lalomanu Beach. So with our fair shores dominating the list overall, it’s clear that this is yet another feather in our cap to cement Australia's beach superiority.
We were a little surprised that no Victorian beaches along the Great Ocean Road got a shout-out, but we’re still very chuffed to see that Aussie beaches are regarded so highly. We might have to start looking at flights out west to see the crystalline Rottnest Island waters for ourselves.
Here are the top ten beaches with the clearest waters in Oceania:
- Champagne Beach, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
- Parakeet Bay, Rottnest Island, Australia
- Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay, Australia
- Eli Creek, K’gari (Fraser Island), Australia
- Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, Australia
- Salmon Bay, Perth, Australia
- Meelup Beach, Dunsborough, Australia
- Lagoon Beach, Lord Howe Island, Australia
- Greens Pool, Denmark, Australia
- Lalomanu Beach, Apia, Samoa