Wild Blue Yonder

A Weekend in Wollongong

Coastline south of Wollongong

August 2019 (2 min read)

Amid the crush of Friday afternoon traffic, I am hurtling down the highway from Sydney to Wollongong with three kids in the car, one of them the Chinese exchange student, and cursing the whole idea of a weekend at the Novotel Northbeach hotel. If not for the other half’s conference, I’d be at home with a gin & tonic and the crossword.

But on walking in to the ballroom-sized hotel lobby bar, I’m instantly revived. There are cute cocktail tables and midnight-blue armchairs and a soaring ceiling, 15 metres high. Ocean-side is all sheets of glass, and a dapper bloke in a suit is tinkling the piano keys for a husky-voiced singer. I could drink several Negroni, but the kids must be fed. We amble outside, cross the road, head down the steps and find ourselves at the Northbeach Pavilion.

Once the old bather’s pavilion, it is now an Italian restaurant. The pizzas that exit their “Stefano Ferrara woodfired oven imported direct from Italy” are so good, I think we might have to move to Wollongong. The gnocchi and tiramisu are delicious too. And the service is multo efficiente. No wonder the place is packed.

I’d hoped to take advantage of the cycle track that follows the coastline for 16km from Wollongong up to Thirroul – how fabulous is that – but our Chinese exchange student says that she keeps falling off her bike. On a blazing Saturday morning, we opt instead for a stroll along the Blue Mile Boardwalk up to the lighthouse on Flagstaff Hill. A tramway line for carts of coal from 1862 until 1954, the Boardwalk is now accessible to young and old and will surely become a Wollongong icon.

The ocean sparkles and surges, doing its ocean meets land thing, and filling the old bathing pools built into the rock at high tide. We pass a new and funky playground in Belmore Basin, and Levendi Café which the other half says makes the best bacon and egg roll. The beach here is perfect for toddlers, being enclosed by a little harbour.

On Flagstaff Hill, a mounted canon menaces any would-be invaders. It was shipped out from England in 1862 to deter stray Russian invaders of the Crimea War and has never been fired. On the other side of the Hill, you can see the Port Kembla steelworks plant, a less seductive Wollongong icon. It produces 2.6 million tons of raw steel each year and is why there are always a line of tankers out to sea. On a less blowy day, the Hill would be a gorgeous picnic spot.

We stop for piccolos and smoothies on the return leg. Northbeach Pavilion has tables and chairs out front during the day where you can watch the lithe young things playing volleyball, or squint at the surfers bobbing up and down with the swell. By now, I’m easing in to the Wollongong vibe and could hang here all day, wafting from café to café. Diggies just up the Boardwalk is reputedly worth a visit. This beach has all the amenities of Bondi with less of the tacky exhibitionism.

But we have a date with Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures, so that the Chinese Exchange student can experience ziplining through the bush. As the 8-year-old needs an accompanying adult, I have to sign up too. It’s less scary than I anticipated. It gives the Chinese exchange student a close up of the few patches of Australian subtropical rainforest to survive. The tree ferns are luxuriously green and the view from the top of the escarpment is worthwhile too. You can have lunch or afternoon tea at the little café and make a day of it.

We pass by the Old Cheese Factory at Robertson on the way back down the escarpment. It’s closing, but the Chinese exchange student is a big fan of blue cheese so they sell us a scrumptious Mildura blue and a Manchego for snacks back at the hotel. After that, the kids can’t finish their huge in-house chicken burgers and chips.

The other half and I head back to the Blue Mile in the direction of the Harbour Front Restaurant we spotted earlier. It’s pleasantly spooky walking in the dark with the high-tide waves crashing below our feet. The restaurant is busy, but several smiley teenagers squeeze us in to a window-side table and rapidly bring water, wine and oysters, followed by Mooloolaba yellowfin tuna and a salad. Gongians seem to have the edge on their Sydney counterparts for cheerful efficiency.

Perhaps that’s because they go to bed earlier. The Blue Mile is deserted on the return leg at 10.30pm on a Saturday night. I wouldn’t want to walk it alone, but with the other half it’s romantic in a tousled hair under the moon sort of way.

From Wollongong it’s an easy run back up north via another icon, the Sea Cliff Bridge. About a 100 of the Chinese exchange student’s compatriots are trotting along the pedestrian walkway as we zip by. The kids humour us when we stop for coffee in the friendly Mr & Mrs Smith.

In the Royal National Park, we strike out from Wattamolla, hoping Australia’s glorious coastline will impress, and find that a smart new boardwalk has replaced the old track up until Curracurrang Cove. Joggers rejoice. As for me, I stop every few steps to rejoice in the wildflowers. Spring has sprung. My heart is aglow. Blessed are Chinese exchange students and conferences in Wollongong.

EXTRA

Ocean view rooms with a balcony at Novotel Wollongong Northbeach over a September weekend cost $619 for 2 adults 
https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1654-novotel-wollongong-northbeach/index.shtml

None of the aggregate sites, including Wotif, Lastminute or Expedia offered any cheaper deals. Breakfast costs $100 extra, so unless you have a big appetite, I’d go eat at any of the cafes along the Blue Mile.

Reservations are required for weekend nights at Northbeach Pavilion and they “ask” that you stick to a 2-hour maximum time frame. See https://www.northbeachpavilion.com.au
The Harbour Front restaurant is large. They often host parties. Best to go after 8.30, when the noise levels are calmer. The window tables for 2 are nicely intimate. See https://www.harbourfront.com.au

Bicycles are available for hire right outside the main entrance of the Novotel Northbeach: http://wollongong.boomerangbikes.com.au
The Blue Mile has its own hokey website for afficionados; https://thebluemile.com.au

The zipline and treetop walk at Illawarra Fly cost from $60 pp; https://www.illawarrafly.com
It’s about a 45-minute drive from the Novotel at Northbeach. 

The Old Cheese Factory at Robertson no longer produces cheese, if it ever did. But they allow you to taste before you buy from a decent range. The café looks good and has a view of the field where some of the scenes from Babe were shot.http://www.robertsoncheesefactory.com.au

NSW National Parks are a joy, but their websites are unappealing. Try Wild Walks for thorough descriptions of tracks, timing and conditions; http://www.wildwalks.com.au

READ

For an Aboriginal creation story starring koala, starfish and whale check out https://dreamtime.net.au/illawarra/

DH Lawrence lived in Thirroul for 4 months in 1922 and wrote Kangaroo there. Wyewurk, the house he stayed in is much the same as it was then. To read of the ongoing battle to save it for posterity click the link https://www.dhlawrencesocietyaustralia.com.au/j7a3.htm