Wollongong Things to Do Tips by austarman

A walk around the beaches and harbour area is a great thing to do in Wollongong.
There is a combination cycleway and walk-track that starts at the harbour and follows the coast 14km's north.
Belmore Basin itself has barbecue and picnic facilities, restaurants and
playgrounds and a fish market.
All of which overlooks the picturesque harbour.
Belmore Basin is studded with lighthouses and Norfolk Island Pines and flanked by golden surfing beaches.
Belmore basin is home to a large fishing fleet as well as attracting plenty of
pelicans.

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Address: Cliff road Wollongong
Directions: Start at the fish markets in Marine drive or from in front of the Novotel hotel in Cliff drive.
Park on Cliff road and follow the cycleway/walkway.
Website: http://www.tourismwollongong.com/regions/central.asp

This is a very large Chinese Buddhist temple complex, and in fact it is the largest in the southern hemisphere.
There are three large shrines here:
The main shrine,the great mercy hall and the pagoda.
There is also a meditation hall,a museum and gift shop a restaurant, a tea room,conference room, lotus pond and garden and a information centre.
Accommodation is also available there at the pilgrims lodge.
I'm not Buddhist ,but there is definitely a atmosphere of calm and peace here and I like to visit this place before I fly anywhere. ;-)

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Phone: 02 42720600
Address: Berkeley road Berkeley N.S.W
Directions: Heading south exit the freeway at Five Islands road and then follow the signs to Nan Tien.
Website: http://www.nantien.org.au/htmls/mainframe.htm
Other Contact: fax 02 42720601

Many of my fitness campaigns have begun at these saltwater swimming pools near Wollongong harbour.
Unfortunately all of them have died a fast death shortly after as well.
The problem is (and my best excuse) that these pools are for most of the year ,so very cold.
The ocean temperature is really only swim-able from around December through till march.
It's a great place to swim in Summer though.

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Address: Cliff road Wollongong
Directions: Between North and South Wollongong beaches on the Cycle/walkway.
Website: www.tourismwollongong.com

There are many popular surfing beaches around the Wollongong area.
This beach is the most popular surfing beach close to the city though.
This photo was taken from the northern end of Wollongong's South beach where the swell is often better than at other beaches and it is a little more sheltered.

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Address: Just below the three the Marine Drive carparks
Directions: Go to the end of Marine Drive, park in one of the carparks and walk down the hill.
Website: www.tourismwollongong.com

This is the city of Wollongong as taken from the top of nearby Mt Keira.
There is only a reasonably narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea where Wollongong is situated so it stretches out along the coast longways for around 30 or 40 kilometres.
Mt Keira has several viewpoints that over look the city of Wollongong,and from here on a good day you can see all the way to Dapto in the south (about 20 km's) and to Thirroul in the north (about 14km's).
There are telescopes here too so you get a better view as well if you want to pay $2 for about 2 minutes.
The area is well fenced off so you don't fall over the edge and there are walking trails through the bush if you like bush walking.
There is also a restaurant here too for meals of drinks.

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Address: About half way up Mt Kiera road
Directions: Turn off Crown street (Princes highway) on to Mt Kiera road and follow until the turnoff on the right.
Website: www.tourismwollongong.com