South Coast Antics

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Geo: -34.4259, 150.9

Well this has to be one of my favorite areas with some amazing lookouts everywhere you look.
I don't think this area gets enough credit.
I had never been to this area until now and had no idea what the landscape held and I love it.
Wollongong, best described as a mini Newcastle, but I guess you have to spend time in and around Newcastle to say that. Both North and South of Sydney seem to be identical, but the south being smaller.
After spending another long and extended period in Newcastle, it was time to hit up the next area, Illawarra.
It didn't start off the best, sleeping in my car in the parking lot of the visitors centre for the first night, very cold and very uncomfortable!
But I put it behind me and enjoyed the fresh highland air. We started up in the highlands, towns bordering the Hume Hwy, towns such as Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale. A real nice area, tucked away in the hills.
We moved down closer to the coast into a slightly warmer climate to Wollongong, Kiama and Nowra. My favorite town was Kiama, beautiful scenery, coasts and hills, a small little town with a top notch skatepark.
The sweet country life was to be put on halt for a week when we were called up to Sydney for some auditing for the week. We setteled in at Wakeup hostel in Sydney, A nice hostel but at a slightly higher price, not to mention the difficulties of finding a desent priced park.
One of my best mates, James flew in on the Friday for the weekend. The first night saw us tearing up the dance floor at side bar which is the bar that accompanies the hostel.
A late night mean't limited physical activity as James and I took the bus to Bondi Beach and shopped in the cities center. Another night and another late start to the day also saw James and myself take a trip to the Blue Mountains, but due to the long weekend it seemed the thing to do as we found ourselves stuck in bumper to bumer traffic to and from Katoomba.
James left the following day and I spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing after quite an eventful weekend.
So stuck in Sydney for the week auditing wasn't my cup of tea but I learned to live with it. I solved the parking problem by parking 30min out into the suburbs and walking to and fro, luckily it was around the area where I was working. I ended up paying $87 for 2 days parking and another $58 for two more.
Our evenings were filled with Side bar antics, including theme nights and pretty much going there every night for dinner and drinks makes for an expensive and tiresome week when the people around you are traveling.
I went to Sydney's FIFA Fan Fest on Darling harbour to watch the Netherlands take on Denmark in the world cup. It was a small crowd compared to 15hrs previous when two areas were completely full as Australia was playing Germany, and you know how many Germans are in Australia :P
I was glad to be leaving Sydney and heading to the slower life. Basing ourselves in the higlands for a couple of days and then back to Wollongong.
Last weekend saw everyone doing their own things. Richard and Daniel went back to Sydney, Sean and Anthony went to Canberra and I chose to stay in Wollongong and checkout the area and all it's splendors.
It's a good thing I have a car otherwise it would be impossible to do. I started at Mount Keira lookout with fantasic views looking North, East and South. I took the Hwy north to Sydney and stopped at various points along the way before cutting in to Royal National Park in Sydney's southern suburbs. Paying a entrance fee of $11, I drove to a small town called Bundeena on the Northern tip of the national park, where a few hundred meters across the water lie Sydney's South Eastern Suburbs including Cronulla. Bundeena was quite nice, possibly worth a visit.
I stopped off for a quick look at the secluded Garie beach before making my way through the twisting roads of the national park and emerging at Bald Hill Lookout which looks South down the coast back towards Wollongong. It was quite windy and the paragliders were out in force.
It would have been a better view had it not been a cloudy day, but I guess you can't win all the time. The Sea Cliff View provides glimpses of modern engeneering by hugging the cliff face for 650m.
Following the Grand Pacific Drive, not to be confused with the Great Ocean Road, it takes you through the smaller towns and suburbs of Wollongong before arriving back to the 103rd largest region by area in New South Wales.
Savouring a private room to myself gave me the rest and energy needed to tackle the next day of adventure. I started off at the Nan Tien Temple tucked away in the suburbs. A very nice Japanse Buddhist temple which gives you the opportunity to give calligraphy a go.
From there I drove south to Kiama and cut East inland to Minnamurra Forest. Here at the foothills of the Higlands I again Paid $11 for entry. I took the one and only looping boardwalk through the forest and to Minnamurra waterfall which is small but very nice.
Afterwards it was back to Wollongong to settle in to Wollongong Backpackers for some weeks to come.
A nice area with some nice photos to accompany.

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Photos

Empty FIFA fan fest arena
15 hrs before this was completely packed with Australian soccer fans

Comments

[Kate-Tourism Wollongong]

Hey thereWe stumbled across your blog and it's great to hear that you enjoyed Wollongong and the Grand Pacific Drive. Hopefully when you come back, your treated with some better weather at Stanwell Tops!All the best for your future travels,
Kate & the team at Tourism Wollongong