Climate
Average temperatures: January max 26C (79F) - min 18C (64F); July max 17C (63F) - min 9C (48F). Average annual rainfall: 1275mm (50 ins).

Characteristics
Wollongong is the seventh largest city in Australia, and the gateway to the Illawarra and Southern Highlands region. To its north, cosy mining villages dot the coastline against a dramatic backdrop of green escarpment. Here the Illawarra coastal plain is narrowest, at times reduced to nothing, as rocky sea cliffs reach right to the pounding waves. In the seaside village of Thirroul, D.H. Lawrence wrote Kangaroo, and from Stanwell Park, aviator Lawrence Hargraves tested his kites.

 

ORDER ONLINE ORDER > SEE MORE TITLES

How to Get There
By Rail
Electric trains run regularly between Sydney's Central Station and Wollongong, connecting with on-going services to Port Kembla and south to Bomaderry on Nowra's northern outskirts, 13 2232.

By Bus
Greyhound Pioneer, 13 2030, and McCaffertys, 13 1499, stop at Wollongong daily on their Sydney/Melbourne via the Princes Highway services.

By Road
From Sydney, via the Princes Highway to Waterfall and then the F6, or continue along the highway and turn off at the Stanwell Park signpost for a spectacular drive along the coast.
Another interesting route is via the National Park to Stanwell Park - turn off just past Sutherland.

Visitor Information
The Wollongong Visitor Information Centre, 93 Crown Street (corner of Kembla Street), (02) 4277 5545 or 1800 240 737 (free call), is open seven days a week 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat and 10am-4pm Sun. They can be emailed at tourism@wollongong .nsw.gov.au and the website to explore is www.wollongong.nsw. gov.au

Accommodation
The Illawarra coast boasts a comprehensive range of accommodation from caravan parks on many of the beaches and lakesides, to an international style resort hotel, leisure village, quality motels, hotels, holiday units and superb convention facilities. Here is a selection with prices for a double room per night, which should be used as a guide only. The telephone area code is 02.

Novotel Northbeach, 2 Cliff Road, 4226 3555. 203 rooms, 17 suites, licensed restaurants, swimming pool, spa, sauna, gym, tennis, bicycling - $230-360.
City Pacific Boutique Hotel, 112 Burelli Street, 4229 7444. 61 rooms, licensed restaurant, swimming pool - $75-250.
Boat Harbour Motel, 7 Campbell Street, 4228 9166. 42 units, licensed restaurant (closed Sun and public holidays) -  $115-140.
Golden Pacific North Beach, 16 Pleasant Avenue, North Wollongong, 4226 3000. 20 units, 2 suites - $95-180.
Downtown Motel, 76 Crown Street, 4229 8344. 31 units, licensed restaurant (closed Sun) - $75-100.
Beach Park Motor Inn, 10 Pleasant Avenue, North Wollongong, 4226 1577. 16 units, barbecue - $60-170.
Caravan Parks
Corrimal Beach Tourist Park, Lake Parade, Corrimal, 4285 5688. 397 sites, barbecue - unpowered sites $15-25 for two, cabins $60-165 for two.
Windang Beach Tourist Park, Fern Street, 4297 3166. (No pets) 259 sites, barbecue - unpowered sites $15-25 for two, cabins $60-165 for two, bungalows $40-70 for two.
Bulli Beach Tourist Park, 1 Farrell Road, 4285 5677. (No pets allowed), 269 sites - powered sites $20-25 for two, cabins $60-165 for two.

Eating Out
Wollongong's cosmopolitan community offers you a wide choice of superb restaurants, snack bars and coffee lounges. Here are some you might like to try.

Fuji Yama Tepan Restaurant, 35 Flinders Street, 4226 2609, specialise in Japanese barbecues.
Charcoal Tavern, 18 Regent Street, 4229 7298. Modern Australian dining, seafood and steaks.
Nam, 4 Kenny Street, 4228 3646. Vietnamese and Chinese food.
Beach House Seafood Restaurant, 16 Cliff Road, 4228 5410.
Anchorage, cnr Campbell & Wilson Streets, 4228 9166. A-la-carte menu and beach views.
Branches, Blackbutt Motel, Shellharbour Road, Shellharbour, 4297 1323. Italian and seafood.
Zita's, 147-149 Corrimal Street, 4227 1110. French, Italian and German cuisine with local seafood.
King's, 26 Flinders Street, North Wollongong, 4228 6976. Chinese cuisine.
Amigos, 116 Keira Street, 4229 8181.  Mexican selection.
Bangkok Orchid Thai, Shop 1, 119 Corrimal Street, 4229 6620.
Mammas Pizza Roma, 56 Crown Street, 4229 9166.
Tandoori Village Indian Restaurant, Shop 2, 120 Corrimal Street, 4225 7876.
During business hours a good place to eat is the Food Court, lower level of the Gateway on the Mall shopping complex, cnr Burelli & Keira Streets. They have tables in the centre and you can choose from Chinese, Italian, Austrian, Mexican, crepes, chicken, pies, kebabs, hamburgers, and so on.
McDonald's have outlets at 115 Corrimal Street and Wollongong Crown Central, Shop 97, 200 Crown Street. There are branches in all other Wollongong localities as well.
Pizza Hut have outlets in localities surrrounding Wollongong. You will find them on the corner of the Priness Highway and McGrath Street, Fairy Meadow, 32 Princes Highway, Dapto and on the corner of King Street and Kemblawarra Place in Warrawong.
KFC can be found at cnr Princes Highway & McGrath Street, Fairy Meadow; 74 Princes Highway, Unanderra; cnr Kemblawarra Road & King Street, Warrawong; 136 Princes Highway, Dapto; and Holm Place, Shellharbour Square.

 

ORDER ONLINE ORDER > SEE MORE TITLES

Entertainment
For those who want to boogie the night away, there are many night clubs and discos, as well as the licensed clubs. The clubs in Wollongong itself are:

Collegians RLFC, 3A Charlotte Street,t, 4229 7711.
Illawarra Master Builders, 61 Church Street, 4229 6466.
Illawarra Leagues Club, 87 Church Street, 4229 4611.
Wollongong Ex-Services, 82 Church Street, 4228 8522.
For movie goers, Wollongong has two cinema complexes:
Regent Theatre, 197 Keira Street, 4228 9238.
Town Cinemas, Burelli Street, 4228 4888.
The Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Burelli Street, 4226 3366, has live theatre and musical presentations.

Points of Interest
Most historic buildings can be visited on a walking tour commencing at Flagstaff Hill (parking available). The sights visited are: Wollongong Head Lighthouse; Breakwater Lighthouse; Belmore Basin; Drill Hall; Throsby's stockman's hut monument; Market Square; Illawarra Historical Mu-seum; Congregational Church; Wollongong Courthouse; St Michael's Provisional Cathedral; Wollongong Uniting Church; The Town Hall; Wollongong East Post Office; Tour-ist Information office; St Francis Xavier's Provisional Cathedral; and Andrew Lysaght Park.

Mount Kembla Historic Village, 7km (4 miles) from Wollongong was the site of the 1902 mining disaster, but it is full of art and craft centres today.

Wollongong Botanic Garden, in Keiraville, is a pleasant spot for picnics and quiet walks, and offers many areas of interest - Sir Joseph Banks Plant Houses, where plants from the wet tropics, deserts and temperate regions are displayed; The Rose Garden; Woodland Garden; Flowering Trees and Shrub Garden; Succulent Plants from South Africa and Central America; Australian Plant Habitats; and The Herb Garden. The Garden is open daily 7am-4.45pm Mon-Fri and 10am-4.45pm Sat-Sun. During winter the gardens close at 6.45pm.

The Wollongong City Art Gallery, 85 Burelli Street, 4228 7500, has a fine collection of modern and traditional paintings, with changing exhibitions. It is open Tue-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun noon-4pm.

Magnificent views of the coastline can be obtained from Mount Kembla Lookout, Sublime Point and Bulli  Lookout, all of which are only about 15 to 20 minutes' drive from the centre of town.
Kelly's Falls, 2km off the Princes Highway at Stanwell Tops, has a picnic area and easy walking tracks to the falls. Flannel flowers are abundant in spring and early summer.

Nearby is Symbio Wildlife Gardens, 7 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, 4294 1088, which has native and exotic animals, free barbecues, swimming and wading pools and lunchtime demonstrations of activities from milking a cow to handling reptiles. The gardens are open daily from 9.30am, and they advertise that feeding time is 'all the time'. To get to these attractions, take the old Princes Highway from Wollongong, not the F6. While you are in the area, drive north for half an hour to Bald Hill Lookout, where there is a memorial to Lawrence Hargraves, and if the wind is favourable you will see many brightly coloured hang-gliders floating by.

Stanwell Park is in the valley below, and you can call in and browse through Articles Fine Arts Gallery, 111 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, 4294 2491, and have a Devonshire tea on the outdoor terrace. The hang-gliders land in the part next to the sea.

South of Wollongong is Lake Illawarra, renowned for fishing and prawning, and often ablaze with colourful sailing boats and sail boards. The lake is actually a lagoon covering an area of 35 sq km (14 sq miles), with its entrance at the foreshore suburb of Windang.

The Illawarra Escarpment State Recreation Area has many fine walking trails through the rainforest, 9585 6444 for details.

Australia's largest steel mill is located around the foreshores of Port Kembla Harbour. The harbour sees millions of tons of coal exported each year from the surrounding mines, as well as steel from the steelworks.

Wollongong has two bicycle tracks. The one to the north starts at North Beach and goes to Corrimal, 14km (9 miles) away. The southern one starts near the Windang bridge and skirts the shores of Lake Illawarra.

Festivals
The Festival of Wollongong is held each year in November.

Facilities
Ten-pin bowling (8 Commerce Drive, Warilla), car rental depots (Auto Rentals, 4229 7766; Avis, 4228 4111; Budget, 13 2727; Thrifty, 4227 3000), catamaran and sailboard hire (Lake Illawarra & Belmore Basin), tennis, squash, horse riding (Otford Valley Farm, 4294 2442), golf, joy flights (Albion Park Aerodrome), fishing, leisure centre with heated pools (Beaton Park, 4229 6004), horse racing (Kembla Grange, 4261 7211), greyhound racing (Bulli, 4267 1467 and Dapto, 4261 2449), harness racing (Bulli, 4267 4224) and indoor cricket (Albion Park Rail, 4256 6138 and Unanderra, 4271 6685 ). Deep sea charter boats leave from Belmore Basin. Roller skating is available at Dapto, 4261 6333.