Primrose Sands is one of a number of popular beachside communities on the north shores of Frederick Henry Bay. It is both a dormitory suburb of Hobart and a holiday resort popular with families.

Where Is it?

Primrose Sands is 48 km east of Hobart, 22 km south east of Sorell.

Beaches

Primrose Beach at Primrose Sands is a slightly curving 1.8 km long southwest-facing beach located between Renard Point in the east and 100 m high Carlton Bluff in the west. The moderately exposed beach faces down Frederick Henry Bay and receives low refracted swell averaging about 0.5 m.

Gypsy Bay (2 km east) lies to the lee of Primrose Point. The beach is a sheltered southeast-facing 100 m long steep cobble beach, backed by 5 m high bluffs then houses. A boat ramp and protecting groyne cross the centre of the beach, with the groyne extending 50 m out to the edge of the sand flats.

Susans Bay

Susans Bay, to the east of Primrose Sands,  has a beach which is tucked in the western corner of the bay. The easternmost houses of Primrose Sands are located behind the bluffs at the western end of the beach.

Connellys Bay is a 1 km wide southwest-facing bay bordered by Dorman Point in the west and the lower slopes of 180 m high Thornes Hills to the west. A row of beachfront homes back the small coastal dunes. Houses also spread for 1 km along the western slopes of the bay.

Tiger Head Beach is the main beach at Dodges Ferry. The beach is low and narrow, usually calm, and backed by numerous boat sheds, together with a boat ramp, two jetties and several boats usually moored off the beach.

Red Ochre Beach is a protected west-facing beach located on the north side of Spectacle Head and is divided into two sections by a 50 m long central outcrop of low rocks and boulders. The northern half consists of a wider sandy high tide beach and low hummocky foredune, with a narrow shallow bar and the Blue Lagoon Reserve backing the southern end.

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Carlton Beach

Carlton Beach is a popular summer surfing beach located 40 km east of Hobart to the east of Dodges Ferry. The Carlton Beach Road runs off the Carlton Road and provides good access to the beach. The beach is 2.7 km long and faces south-southwest towards the entrance to Frederick Henry Bay 15 km to the south. The Carlton River mouth, its deep inlet and neighbouring Carlton Bluff form the eastern boundary with 20 m high Spectacle Head to the west. While the beach is set deep within Frederick Henry Bay, owing to its southerly orientation it receives most southerly swell entering the bay, with waves averaging about 1 m and occasionally higher.

Dodges Ferry

Dodges Ferry is a small township on the eastern side of the entrance to Pittwater in south eastern Tasmania. Dodges Ferry was named after Ralph Dodge (1791-1871) who operated a ferry service across Pittwater from the 1820s. It is now a popular tourist locale. Like many of the settlements on Frederick Henry Bay, Dodges Ferry has long been a popular holiday resort for Tasmanians, especially for families. With sandy beaches and rocky headlands close at hand, it lies at the entrance to the Pittwater estuary and has a reputation for safe swimming, fishing and boating. Until the 1960s, Dodges Ferry comprised mainly of beach shacks, but an influx of Hobart commuters has seen a change to more modern, larger homes and facilities.