CYLINDER Beach on North Stradbroke Island has again been voted one of Queensland’s best beaches.
Surf Life Saving Queensland has rated Cylinder fourth best in the state, after Burleigh, Main Beach at Noosa and Greenmount.
Lifesavers released their second annual list of Queensland’s top 10 beaches to celebrate the start of summer, with Cylinder Beach easily making the cut as one of Queensland’s best spots to cool down this summer.
It’s the second year in a row that Cylinder has been included in the top 10, after finishing second last year.
It slipped a little due issues regarding accessibility and facilities.
Ironically, a Redland City Council and dive group campaign to have ex-HMAS Tobruk sunk off Straddie as a recreational dive site was based on some locations off Cylinder.
SLSQ coastal safety officer Chantel Fife said a number of factors had been considered when compiling the list.
“Safety is obviously our primary focus and, with that in mind, we considered a wide range of factors including everything from patrol times and services, right through to its incident history, coastal conditions and the quality of visitor information,” she said.
“After that we looked at other areas such as how user-friendly we thought the beach was and this included things such as its location, access to parking and public transport, facilities and cleanliness.
“Cylinder Beach is a beautiful beach and a wonderful spot to cool down over the summer months.
“It certainly deserves its place among our top 10 beaches,” she said.
With Queensland home to hundreds of beaches, Mrs Fife said the list could create controversy.
“There are so many beautiful beaches up and down Queensland’s coastline and everyone has their
own favourite little spot they like to go to,” she said.
“Trying to narrow it down to one winner is always a difficult job, but in a way that’s a good problem for us.
“It shows how many wonderful beaches there are in Queensland.”
With summer starting this week, lifesavers and lifeguards are bracing for an influx of beach visitors over coming weeks.
Mrs Fife urged anyone looking to cool off in the surf to put safety first at all times.
“At the end of the day, we don’t mind what beach you go to, as long as you play it safe and always swim between the red and yellow flags,” she said.
“The flagged areas not only represent the safest conditions on that particular beach but are also patrolled by qualified surf lifesavers and lifeguards.”
The top 10 beaches are:
1. Burleigh Beach – Gold Coast
2. Main Beach – Noosa
3. Greenmount Beach – Gold Coast
4. Cylinder Beach – North Stradbroke Island
5. Alexandra Headland – Sunshine Coast
6. Mooloolaba Beach – Sunshine Coast
7. North Burleigh Beach – Gold Coast
8. Nielson Park Beach – Bundaberg
9. Harbour Beach – Mackay
10. Palm Cove – Cairns