Bogangar Beach runs almost due north-south for 8km from Cudgen Headland and Creek to Norries Head at the southern end at Cabarita. The beach has traditionally been extensively used for a range of recreational pursuits, including beach activities, fishing, dog exercising, horse-riding, and Local Authority permitted four-wheel driving.
The 4WD access is located just south of the Casuarina township, available to limited number of permit holders. For those without a permit, there is a carpark only a short distance from the beach. The carpark also offers convenient access to the coastal cycleway/walkway running northwards through Casuarina.
Immediately to the south of the 4WD access point is coastal section of the Cudgen Nature Reserve, significant for its natural values. Fifteen distinct vegetation communities support a diverse range of plants and animals, including 10 amphibian, 9 reptile, 98 bird and 20 mammal species. This includes threatened and regionally significant species such as the wallum sedge frog, wallum froglet, wompoo fruit dove, glossy black cockatoo, red-tailed black cockatoo, barred cuckoo-shrike, osprey, long-nosed potoroo, greater glider, eastern little mastiff bat, yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat and the pink-tongued skink.
The origins of this carpark and 4WD beach access can be traced to the 1998 Cudgen Nature Reserve Management Plan. This Plan identified a need to close informal beach access points to the south, and build a new access to the north. The basic intention was to formalize 4WD access and shift the access outside of the reserve. The precise form and location of the new access was to be negotiated between all the stakeholders, including NPWS, Tweed Shire Council and the Consolidated Properties group who were the proponents of the development to the north.
Two years later, in 2000, the Consolidated Properties group started working on the $1 billion, 15-year development of the beachfront master planned community of Casuarina. The development included the construction of extensive public infrastructure to serve the future needs of the community. As part of these public works, the present carpark, 4WD beach access and the coastal walkway/cycleway were all developed, the new entry from Tweed Coast Road effectively formalizing a new public driveway to the beach.
The Driveway offers convenient access to both the beach and to coastal cycleway, and is well used by members of the general public. Keep a lookout for muggles and bring a pen.