Wollongong

The glare from the sun rising over the Pacific and clear blue sky promised a return to hot summer weather as we readied ourselves for the 12 km walk to central Wollongong. The city has an excellent north-south bicycle path that follows the coastline, passing directly in front of our cabin. We leapt the Tourist Park fence and headed south on it through the suburbs of the ‘Gong. This proved to be a sociological field trip as we greeted locals walking, riding and running along the bike path as it passed house styles spanning all decades from the modest ‘50s fibro cottages to the large curved steel and concrete mega-houses of the ‘00s. Observing the front yards, back yards and side yards that passed us by on the path gave us a feel for the life style of the residents of the Leisure Coast, as this region is called. Increasingly the smaller, older coastal cottages are being torn down and replaced by the large residences that occupy most of the block, the claustrophobic new sub-division of “Ostentation-sur-Mer” contrasting markedly with its neighbouring estate of more modest semi-detached public housing. On the seaward side, the high tide drove waves over the edges of the semi-natural saltwater swimming pools that dot the rock platforms along this coastline.

Moving on, we passed through a small, but well-preserved wetland reserve, before emerging suddenly on the outskirts of the city centre. Skirting to the left, we passed the attractive harbour with its lighthouse, marina, and complex of rock platform swimming pools, before diving down Crown St to our accommodation for the night, the Downtown Motel in the heart of the ‘Gong. We were lucky – 8,000 touch footballers were also in town for a tournament and accommodation was very tight. We had arrived before lunch, after the shortest and flattest section to date, leaving the afternoon to shop for essential supplies and explore the pleasant mall area of this coastal city. Although we had approached it with some trepidation, central Wollongong received our tick of approval.

The next day we completed the crossing of the ‘Gong, rejoining the bike path to head south. Unfortunately, instead of the pleasant and quiet coastal pathway of the northern suburbs, the southward pathway followed a four-lane highway across the heavily industrialised area of Port Kembla. Unavoidable, but certainly the least enjoyable day so far, helped by playing parlour-games such as “what smell is that?” In truth, Port Kembla is well maintained for an industrial zone, but steel, oil and coal place a serious limit on aesthetics.

Finally, we re-entered suburbia, crossing a small hill to leave Port Kembla behind and catch our first glimpse of Lake Illawarra, the largest of many coastal lakes opening to the sea that we would have to cross before the end of our journey. We followed a track along the back dunes between lake and sea, a peaceful final section before turning inland and reaching Lake Illawarra Village, our destination for the night, and for the next day. By the time that we arrived the sky had clouded over and a mist settled in to obscure the far shores of the lake.

The grey stillness of the lake was replaced by a brief period of sunshine next morning; a flock of 100 plus black swans rested in the shallows and several pelicans soared high on thermals above the lake. We took their lead and spent the day reading and relaxing. The forecast was for several days of showers, so we decided to put the urban environment completely behind, head south the next day and wait out the rain in the more pleasant coastal resort town of Kiama.

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Stages 4 & 5 - Crossing the 'Gong