When people ask for tips on the best family-friendly beaches in Melbourne, Half Moon Bay always gets a mention.
The poetically named Half Moon Bay is a calm, gentle and shallow beach on Port Phillip Bay near Black Rock. As the name suggests, the little inlet is deeply curved into a half moon crescent shape and the surrounding Red Bluff cliffs make it a particularly sheltered beach for little kids.
Half Moon Bay is small and very much a ‘local’s’ beach. There’s a couple of colourful beach huts, a surf life-saving club (with public toilets) and the Black Rock Yachting Club, plus the restaurant Cerberus Beach House with gorgeous views of the bay, particularly at sunset.
The downstairs beach kiosk of Cerberus Beach House is also a hangout and the owners know regulars by name.
We try their fish and chips, frequently named as one of Melbourne’s 10 top best fish and chips.
Find Hotels and Airbnbs near Half Moon Bay, Black Rock
The fish is fresh, the batter is crunchy and the chips are plentiful. The seagulls look on hungrily!
Then it’s down to the beach for some sand play and a paddle. Half Moon Bay is also home to the shipwreck of HMVS Cerberus which acts as a breakwater and older kids can swim out further out. Just note that the Cerberus is a heritage protected zone and for safety swimmers should stay outside of the protected zone. There’s also a small jetty where the locals go to fish and jetski.
HOT Tips:
- Suitable for kids;
- Half Moon Bay is also home to HMVS Cerberus, the last surviving monitor warship. Cerberus is a heritage protected zone and for safety swimmers should stay outside of the protected zone;
- Little shade;
- Paid parking at top of cliffs and at beach level. Stair access from top of cliffs. Parking was $5.30 an hour or $16.80 per day;
- Enjoy fish and chips with a view at beach kiosk of Cerberus Beach House;
- Upstairs of Cerberus Beach House is award-winning licensed restaurant with views.
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