Description

Coogee is a popular beach 10km (6mi) South of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. It is a medium sized sandy beach with rock platforms at each end. Behind the beach is a big grassy park with picnic tables.
Coogee is an ocean beach, protected from most swell by nearby Wedding Cake Island. The middle of the beach faces South-East. Access to the beach is by car, bus or walking.

Name

Coogee was probably taken from the aborignal name 'Koojah' which means 'stinking seaweed'.

Coogee Beach Map

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Tidal Pool at Southern end of beach

Coogee beach is a popular destination for beach side breakfast. There are more than a few good cafes on Arden St, most offering good value breakfast specials.

The old Coogee Palace Aquarium was recently redeveloped, it now houses restaurants and cafes.

There is a tidal pool at the South end of the beach that gets a lot of use. This beach is patrolled and fairly safe for surf swimming as not much swell gets past Wedding Cake Island.

Coogee Beach has some quality fishing from the rock platforms on the North side of the beach. Catches off the rocks include snapper, bream and drummer.

!History

Coogee Palace Aquarium - opened in 1887, recently redeveloped into cafes and restaurants. Infamous for the 'Shark Arm Murder' case, when in 1935 a tiger shark in captivity regurgitated a human arm that was identified by a tattoo. More on Wikipedia (external link)
Coogee Pier - Coogee Beach once had a large English style pier, complete with restaurant, arcade and 1400 seat theatre. Built in 1928, it soon began to crumble in the rough Australian surf, despite the protected nature of the bay. It was demolished in 1934.