''THESE trees just went over in one night - boom, boom, boom, boom.''

Kingscliff Beach on the NSW north coast is a shadow of its former self. Over the past six weeks, the access road through Faulks Park joined the pandanus trees and crumbled into the ocean in a dramatic erosion collapse which unfolded before John Purnell's eyes from his Volunteer Coast Guard tower.

John Purnell inspects the damage to Kingscliff Beach on the north coast ... "You're looking at a good 100 metres just destroyed by nature." Credit:Edwina Pickles

''It used to come out about 20 metres from the road, full of pandanus trees, and then you had 30 metres of dunes,'' he said.

''You're looking at a good 100 metres just destroyed by nature. The council can only do so much.''