116 – 120 Wollongong and Kiama

We had a weekend off together for the first time in ages. I was supposed to be working an odd shift due to the fact that the rest of the department were sitting the AMC exam and they had nobody else to cover. If I’d agreed to do that then it would have meant that I would only have one full, non-on-call, free weekend in 15 weeks so I refused.

116. Kiama
Instead of working we jumped on the train to Kiama which is a beautiful seaside town about 100km south of Sydney. The town would not have looked out of place in the East Neuk of Fife and the little cafes, fish markets and fishing boats could have been flown in straight from Anstruther. It was a real pleasure to explore.

There are 2 of the most spectacular beaches there and the surf casually rolls in creating mile long barrels. There are a couple of old fashioned out-door sea-pools which nobody seemed to be interested in using but I’m sure they would be packed during the summer. They were mirror still and were stark contrast to the swells and surf that buffeted the coast line.

Walking round the headland, the coastline seemed lunar and bleak but every time a wave washed up on the rocks the greens of the kelp and other weeds of the sea showed you how rich the environment actually was. Closer inspection revealed rock pools full of crabs and a plethora of marine birds. Even the outdoor pool was full of shell fish and multitudes of zig-zagging minnows.

The whole area had that feel to it that you get when you are visiting a place from your youth – a place where déjà vu is round every corner and the local children remind you of the innocence that you once had when the world was only ice-cream, kites, sandcastles and rock pools. Actually it made me feel a bit sad in the way that thinking about a long dead pet does.

We parked ourselves on some of the moon-esque rocks and lay there soaking in the suns rays and despite it being almost winter it was still in the mid 20s. A few chapters of our books later and with the tide coming in we gathered our stuff and made our way in search of lunch which consisted of some dubious battered fish and mountains of chips which actually tasted rather nice but was impossible to finish.

117. Kiama Blowhole
Relatively near to the train station is Kiama’s major attraction – the Blowhole. It’s a small tunnel in the rock of the head land that ends in a chasm about 4 metres across further inland. The ocean swells run up the tunnel and when they reach the end of their journey, the only other place for the water to go is up which results in fountains of sea water being thrown into the air. It’s quite spectacular and on a rough day I’m sure that the plumes must reach such heights that we were not privy to during our time there. Still it was a good photo opportunity and that was evident by the hordes of tourists there snapping gigabytes of pixels.

118. Wollongong
After we’d had our fill of Kiama we got back on the train and made our way to Wollongong where we had a room booked in one of the local hotels. We arrived at the relatively posh Rydges Hotel and to our chagrin there appeared to be lots of groups of 20 to 30-something men staying there obviously for a big night out on the town. Being as Wollongong is the second largest town in NSW I suppose it was to be expected.

After dumping our stuff in our room we went down to the front desk and asked for some advice as to where we should go to eat. Kiera St was full of restaurants and was only a short walk from the hotel so we went there. Although we had heard rumour of a Malaysian restaurant (which we had never eaten) we couldn’t find it and so settled for Vietnamese. It was reasonably tasty but the “salt and pepper deep-fried soft shell crab” that I chose was a bit too fishy and left me parched.

119. Chang Beer

Smoothness 3
Cost 3
Piss-factor 3
Aftertaste 3
Coolness 3

Luckily there were 2 things on the drinks menu that I’d never tried before. The first was Chang Beer which was decidedly the most average beer that I’ve ever drank. There was nothing special about it in any way and also nothing particularly wrong with it. It was just… well, average. It was the Tuesday or John Major or Reebok of beers and it did an average job of quenching my thirst.

120. Ruskie Lemon

Smoothness 2
Cost 3
Piss-factor 2
Aftertaste 4
Coolness 1

The second beer that I chose was from the Premium Beer list and I was expecting something along the lines of a lemony weiss bier. You can imagine my shock when the waitress brought me what can only be described as a Smirnoff Ice. I didn’t quite know what to do – Vietnamese food and alco-pops are not a recognised combination. In saying that, the lemon seemed to go quite well with the crab although I didn’t opt for a second one.

After dinner, the groups of drunk predatory males and scantily clad female prey scared us into and early night of fizzy white wine (which unfortunately turned out to be flat) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl which we fell asleep too. We had an early start and made our way back to Sydney without really seeing anything of Wollongong. That said, a later consult with the Rough Guide revealed that there really wasn’t much to see in Wollongong anyway. Oh well!