You don’t have to be naked on the beaches of Bowen, but you can be.

Indeed, Bowen has the best-signed nude beach I’ve ever seen.

They even write about this clothing-optional beach — technically called Coral Bay (located just up the cape from Grays Bay toward Horseshoe Bay, if you’re going on a quest) — in the town marketing materials. It’s impossible to lose your way, though this particular sign pointed me straight out into the ocean:

There’s no missing it once you’re finally there, either — the naturalists here really like their spray paint.

To call this a “beach” is pretty generous…

… because it’s more like a giant pile of rocks:

But what rocks these are! There are long, flat rocks for to lie out on in the warm sun, and person-sized rocks to clamber over, and tall, wide rocks to slip underneath for shade. I am enamored of the rocks of Bowen.

These are wonderful boulders, filled with nooks and crannies, balancing majestically as they tumble over one another and on out into the ocean.

I have no idea how long the clothing-optional area runs, but I walked out along the bay as far as I could. I have since been told that this I was actually at the bay that comes before the sandy nude beach, but I never found the beach itself. In any case, the view from the end of the cape is stunning:

You can see a lot more rocks if you take the five kilometer circuit walking track that starts out just a block behind my hotel at Rose Bay and goes up, up up …

… past Murray Bay and all the way over to Horsehoe Bay (they have a lot of bays in Bowen), and then back through the brush to your starting point. This hike first takes you up a whole lot of stairs to Mother Beddock, a giant balancing rock that appears to be the highest point in this low-lying region:

The views from the top are lovely on a sunny morning (though it’s worth noting that this hike is incredibly exposed, so if you plan to do all hilly 5 kilometers, go early in the morning and bring water):

Once you’ve passed the great mother rock, you hike down to a very pretty little bay …

… with more rocks!

I really loved this big round-ish one…

… and this one, which I thought looked like a modern art sculpture:

If you keep walking, you get to remote, quiet Murray Bay …

… and then to this beautiful but very rocky bay (unnamed, on my maps) …

… and then to postcard-perfect Horseshoe Bay:

Horseshoe Bay has a wide ring of soft sand:

… but if you want more rocks, there are plenty to be found on either side!

I had really been hoping to snorkel in Horseshoe Bay, but by the time I arrived at the beach with my mask and fins, word on the street was that a girl had gone to the hospital the day before with serious jellyfish stings.

There was also a Nor’easter blowing in, which (1) makes it wavy and (2) increases the likelihood of more jellyfish coming in (both of which count in my book as lousy snorkeling conditions). So I just dipped my toes in and watched the water from the safety of shore.