Best Places To Find Shells in Australia
 

I'm going to Australia next week and I adore looking for shells...we're going to be in Adelaide first...and then Perth. Are there any places anywhere near either of those cities to look for shells? We'll be in Perth for longer and we can do day trips if there are places a little out of the city.

Thanks!

I really don't think you are permitted to collect shells any more and this applies to many places in the world. It is considered part of the environment.

Goodness - is that right? I thought walking along beaches and picking up the odd cuttlefish shell and a few shells was an enjoyable thing to do - don't tell me that you can't do that anymore.
Anyway I don't think that either place would be a good shell gathering area because the beaches in Perth are more white with refined sand, however I don't know about the beaches in Adelaide but I think they are similiar.

Even if it was permitted, I'd think twice before picking up shells or "rocks" from certain Australian beaches. Though I'm not sure about Western or South Australia (believe it is mostly up in the tropical reef area), there are a couple animal/fish species that camoflage themselves by appearing to be shells/rocks, but are actually poisonous.

Cone shells are the shells that are the ones that you should not pick up - they are found in the GBR only and not in Adelaide or Perth beaches.
I hope that someone will verify that picking up shells is NOT against the law - its an educational thing to do.

tangeyj: I have been searching to find out if indeed picking up shells is something you cannot do in Australia and on many sites it is suggested that there are worthwhile beaches to find shells - so it looks like the law against collecting shells does not apply in Australia and thank heaven for that because the World is overgoverned with laws on what you cannot do.

Some shells are homes to animals eg hermit crabs. As the crabs grow they leave their shell for a larger one so if everyone took the shells some hermit crabs maybe left homeless. Try to find the flat shells not likely to be potential homes for these creatures.

I sure hate upset everyone. It used to be one of my absolute favorite things to do and I would spend hours in the S.P. walking the beaches. I have a large jar of beautiful shells which hasn't been added to for years. Perhaps it is the type of vacations I take which are ecologically conscious cruises and we are always told collecting is a "no-no". You might want to check out the website www.qldbeaches.com/caring.html.

You will be lucky if you find any shells.
Everyone has been there before you and snaffled the lot.

I could never understand why taking a shell home to keep and treasure was worse than leaving it on the beach to be smashed up and reduced to sand, but I guess there is logic in it somewhere.
The CITES conventiion to prohibit trade in endangered species applies to some shells, such as Cowrie (sp) and Conch etc, and I suppose some were being taken with the molusc still in residence.
THis whole thing has got a bit out of hand. Some staff from one of the boats in Milford Sound made headlines in the local paper when they were seen picking up small pieces of Greenstone from a beach. Apparently all greenstone belongs to the local maori tribe (Ngai Tahu) and they have to give permission to take it. To their credit the maori elders said the whole thing was silly, and they could care less if people fossicked on the beach. It was only the wholesale mining of greenstone they were concerned about. A small spark of rationallity in an area increaingly monopolised by zealots & busy-bodies.

I remember when I questioned the fact I could no longer pick up shells I was told that they were what made up the sand. Something similar happened last year in the Galapagos - we were not permitted to pick up even a pebble. Sad but I don't want to "rock the boat".

W/out entering the pick-up-shells debate there are astonishing beaches made entirely of shells up near Monkey Mia as you leave the main highway to enter Denham (about 600 miles north of Perth - people drive there in 2 days)

yep the east coast is pretty much anti shell picking
the pretty ones you see in the souvenir shops mostly come from papua new guinea anyway
cant pick up coral either