Shelly beach is an unofficial naturist beach situated just outside of Townsville. It has long been a relatively remote and little used area and today remains much the same. Due to this, nudism is not uncommon here.As the name suggests, there is a 3.1 km long ridge of Shelly sand that is slowly growing to the west as a series of low, recurved spits.

The beach is not really suitable for swimming, as they are tidal flats except at high tide, but it is fun to explore the ankle deep rock pools that are abound with marine life, where one can discover the Black Sea Cucumbers, Blue Periwinkles and Rose Barnacles, there’s over 20 types of marine species that make their home in the waters of this rocky shoreline.