are all the beaches around Sydney to Brisbane on East coast Oz surfer type beaches?

[spankie]

everywhere i look on the net seems to mention surf, surf surf....yes i know its east coast oz, but surely somewhere must mention secluded bays with fantastic snorkelling and idylic beaches i cant bear to get in to water if i can't see the bottom

we have 4 wks in dec booked, and we are currently trying to sort out accomondation...any reccomendations would be GREATLY appreciated.
thanks v much xx
(we have 21 month toddler btw! So needs to be family orientated)

The surf is there because there is no reef to stop it. For what you want you need to go further north so that the coast is protected by the Barrier Reef.

if you want idyllic beaches try the Whitsundays -(hope I'm remembering this right) a group of islands - you get a boat out from Airlie Beach, which is an awful place. But the islands are fab

yep, I did remember right

except taht I've just read Sydney to Brisbane - whitsundays are further north. as cece points out you need to get to the reef to get shelter.

On Bondi (I think) there is a swimming pool carved into the rocks. Fills with sea water each tide.

yuck! I never went in so didn't know that! WhitSundays are lovely. But if you go too far north if it is stinger season you can't really go in the sea. How about Noosa? That is a seaside type holiday place but can't remember what the sea was like

Message withdrawn

myermay has reminded me - she's right Noosa is calmer - it's a peninsula type thing and one side gets the surf and the other doesn't. iirc. But again, it's north of Brisbane. It's a very nice town - very clean, nice shops and restaurants and a little nature reserve where you can see the koalas.

if you are going to sydney you should go to Balmoral Beach, in Mosman. It lovely and pretty, no surf, lovely fish and chips and was voted 'Sydney's best Family beach'

thanks everyone will look into noosa and balmoral beach (we are definaltey going to see whitsundays btw but was struggling to find non surf beaches whilst travelling from brisbane to sydney, apart from 2 days in whitsundays we will be travelling from brisbane to sydney for the majority of the time, if there are any 'must see's' please let me know! thanks again for your posts