I would like to share with you my greatest hidden gem near Margaret River – Watching & Touching Wild Stingrays at Hamelin Beach!!
Here’s a short video which shows you roughly what to expect.
I routed Google Maps to – Hamelin Bay Holiday Park (Hamelin Bay Rd, Hamelin Bay WA 6288, Australia) which was located at the end of Hamelin Bay Road.
It is an approximately 30 minutes drive from Margaret River, where we were staying.
When you reach, I recommend parking further in as the stingrays tend to appear at the boat ramp area. We parked near the entrance and we had to walk a bit to the boat ramp side. There is a public toilet available (not very clean) but with an outdoor shower – good enough for you to wash all that sand from your feet before entering the car.
Stingray-spotting is available all-year-round (no guarantees) but the chances peaks in summer. I was there in March 2016, supposedly autumn but the weather was still pretty warm and sunny during the day. The best time to visit the beach (to see the stingrays) would be early morning or late afternoon. I was there in the evening between 5 to 630PM.
Some photos of the area:
If you’re lost, look for this structure – we spotted the stingrays around this area.
You can enjoy a spectacular sunset view by the beach too.
The rays are huge! I think the bigger ones are more than 1m in length! According to the guides, the two species present that day was smooth ray and eagle ray.
To read more about the Stingrays and Hamelin Bay, you can refer to this very useful link.
Return to my 9D Self Drive Western Australia Itinerary.