Garie Beach is a beach located in the Royal National Park

Royal National Park

Royal National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 29 km south of Sydney CBD.Founded by Sir John Robertson, Acting Premier of New South Wales, and formally proclaimed on 26 April 1879, it is the world's second oldest purposed national park, the first usage of the term...

, on the outskirts of southern

Southern Sydney

This article refers to an area the same as a combination of St George and SutherlandSouthern Sydney is a general term which is used to describe the southern metropolitan area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia....

 Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, in the state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

History

There are two theories of the origins of the name. Garie is an Aboriginal word meaning 'sleepy'. The name could also be a deviation of the name of a bushranger called Geaty, who camped here. It was a beautiful place. And still is.

Facilities

Garie Beach is accessible via Garie Road, and has a carpark. It has no barbecue but has toilets, a surf safety centre, a kiosk and a picnic area. A youth hostel was previously located nearby Garie beach, however burnt down in December 2010. It is still undecided as to whether it will be rebuilt or not.

Redevelopment

The construction of the Garie Beach Surf Safety Centre is one component of a larger planning and construction program to improve the Garie Beach Valley for the enjoyment of beach users. Stage one of the program was completed in June 2005 and included constructing a 175-space car park, and restoring the creek line and the beach foredune.

Stage two involved designing, developing and constructing the Garie Beach Surf Safety Centre, landscaped forecourt and picnic areas. The surf safety centre, once completed, will contain public showers and toilets, a first aid room, kiosk, boat and equipment storage, a radio room, and meeting rooms and office space for the Garie Surf Life Saving Club and Garie Boardriders Club. As there is no electricity, no sewerage system and no mains water in the Garie Valley, the surf safety centre will be solar powered, and include a low-flush hybrid treatment system to provide flushing toilets which will use on-site biological treatment. Rainwater storage tanks will hold 31,600 litres of rainwater to provide showers for beach users.

Surfing

Garie Beach has some of the best surfing waves in Sydney and is a very popular family beach destination. The Garie Surf Life Saving Club will provide an essential community service in helping to keep the public safe at the beach. Garie is home to the Garie Boardriders Club. Garie Boardriders has an active membership of just over 100 member on average and has been continually running as a boardriders club since 1978. The club's books now have over 500 members on them and a lot of older members are returning to compete in the senior and masters divisions.

Garie Boardriders is affiliated with the Surfing Illawarra, Surfing NSW and Surfing Australia. Garie's members have competed up to Australia Titles level as well as a couple who competed at APSA and more recently ACC level.

The most recent surfing photographs from Garie Boardriders competitions are posted on http://picasaweb.google.com/Danga.inc/