first proper sight of the Illawarra

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After I was seriously sick the last couple of days I can now tell you what I did immediately before I got ill. Last Saturday I met Gavin and we had a few beers at his place and in the North Gong Bar. Unfortunately we were sitting outside and it was freezingly cold, as the wind coming from Antarctica was mercyless. This might be the central reason why I had a relapse after I was nearly fit again. Anyway, we talked about Europe and it's differences to Australia, and it was pretty funny, because he could tell me more about Europe as I could tell him.
The next day we headed northwards through the suburbs of Wollongong, so that I could see the beauty of the Illawarra Escarpment for the first time. It's all forests and natural parks around the hills here. These hills run nearly parallel to the shore, but they get closer and closer the further north you go, finally colliding with the coastline, so that you have very high steep cliffs. Along one of these cliffs runs the Sea Cliff Bridge on which I stood. It's a funny feeling to stand above the ocean.
We visited the Hindu temple in Helensburgh, which is far more impressive from the outside than from the inside, because it has a fantastic facade. Yet, from inside it looks slightly fake, as all the pillars which are richly decorated hold a steel construction that makes up the roof. This doesn't look like traditional style architecture. Nonetheless it was an interesting sight.
We headed on to a huge dam, which is very important for the region. At the moment it is nearly full so nobody needs to worry anymore. But a few months ago it was nearly empty and the towns around were almost running out of water. This is a serious problem to the south coast of Australia. And why do I reckon that it'll get worse in the future?
On our way back I saw many a perspective of all the beaches and suburbs of Wollongong from the adjacent hills. It's really nice views from here, and as soon as you start to climb the hills you find yourself in the most natural environment with very interesting trees. One of them is the Illawarra Flame Tree, which looks very funny and can only be found here. Another one is a certain eucalyptus tree that is responsible for several of the huge forest fires in Australia. It has a certain oil in its leaves that ignites when it reaches a certain temperature. At first you might think this is very stupid of the tree, but the fire helps it to recreate itself and it cracks its seeds. And what is more: after the whole forest burned down the soil is very fertile and there's enough space for the young eucalyptus trees. Clever, isn't it?
When we were back in Wollongong we had fish'n'chips for dinner and I was told that most of the time there is no fish but shark meat in fish'n'chips, because there are simply too many sharks around here, making shark meat very cheap.
After this very interesting and talkative Saturday afternoon I got a terrible headache and a even more terrible night followed. I was advised to have a standard flu tablet, so that I could get rid of the pain for a few hours. Normal flu tablets here are a little different from the ones we get at home: they are a mixture of half a gram of Paracetamol and good portions of Ephedrine and Kodein. You're supposed to take two of them, three times a day. If I took two of them at once, I'd probably be unable to tell whether I'm awake or asleep. Anyway, I'm getting better and hopefully I'll soon be fully recovered so that I'm fit for the next trip or the next party or whatever there is to come.

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Photos

Illawarra viewpoint
showing one beach next to the other

coreaux dam
making life possible in this region