Temperatures got up to 36 degrees today with high humidity. So we took it easy and made our way down the coast at a leisurely pace.
From Bulli Wollongong is the next larger town and we were headed for the Flagstaff point Lighthouse at Wollongong Head.
Pictures can be very deceiving- and this shot of the lighthouse looks picturesque. But Wollongong certainly is not. So my recommendation: skip Wollongong and drive further down to Kiama and spend some time there.
Before going to Kiama, however, we wanted to see another temple, this time a Buddhist one. We stopped at the Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple in Berkeley.
The temple is beautiful and well kept. We walked around their ground to the Gratitude Bell before entering the temple itself. The temple has very colorful Buddha statues and wonderful calligraphy.
As mentioned earlier Kiama is a beautiful small town absolutely worth stopping. We decided to have a picknick lunch at the park at Black Beach before walking along the Kiama Coast Walk to see the Blowhole.
The Blowhole itself was a bit of a let down. But that‘s nature: we were there at the wrong time.
The Visit NSW website says this about the blowhole: „Kiama’s famous Blowhole is the largest in the world, and when the swell is running from the southeast, you’re in for a real treat. The 2.5 metres opening in the rock face has had its plumes of water recorded at heights of over 30 metres!“
This is the maximum amount of water we saw coming up when we visited:
Right around the corner from the blowhole there is another rock pool, this one even more beautiful than the famous one at Bondi beach.
A1 Princess Highway is the main road extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide. At Gerringong we deviated from the highway to stay on the Grand Pacific Highway leading us through shady forest area alongside Seven Mile Beach. Also we got a glimpse of Shoalhaven wine region and its wineries.
Our stop for the next two nights was Sanctuary Point. As we were almost at our destination two kangaroos jumped right in front of our car right in the residential area giving us quite a scare.