Ratchet / Queensland / Australia

This is a fairly remote spot, about a 50 min drive north of Cairns on the road towards Port Douglas. It is suitable for all, and you will know if it is working because you will see surfers from the road.

The best way to find the beach is to look for the Turtle Cove resort – it is the beach just south of there. It is sandy and clear, and as it is often missed by people passing through you'll find it a quiet place to surf - anybody else you see out are likely to be locals, but they are friendly enough. The water is warm in summer and will approach 30° C, but a long suit is still recommended because there can be a lot of jellyfish in the water here.

This place works on all tide positions and when both the wind and the swell coming from the south-east. The swell will start building at less than 1 m and hold up to over 3 m. It is a beach break, both right and left, and the waves are fun and often hollow too. The length on most days and won't be much more than about 50 m, though if there are some big swells around you might see between 100 -150 m.

You will need to park just off the road and then follow the tracks down the cliff face. There are no facilities on the beach, but Port Douglas is just to the north and should be able to offer some decent accommodation, restaurants, bars etc.

Keep your eyes open for sharks which frequent this coast, although they are rarely a problem.