For this trip we took the train a
couple hours south to the South Coast. We stayed in Wollongong but
travelled to several places from Kiama in the south up to Thirroul.
We started our trip with Nan Tien
Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere.
Nan Tien Temple was lovely and peaceful
– despite the many tourists. It is located in Unanderra, just
south of Wollongong. They have a huge tract of land with various
rooms of worship, a little museum/shop, living quarters, a pagoda,
ponds, and some pretty hills. They also do a very solid Chinese
vegetarian lunch. We would recommend this as an interesting and
pleasant stop for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.
We also went swimming the evening of
our first day. This turned out to be a very wise choice as rough
weather would prevent us from swimming again this trip!
The second day we headed off to the
Wollongong lighthouses. The lighthouses were nice and their point
had a nice view of the waves.
We also went to the Wollongong Science
Centre & Planetarium. It seems that a lot of people visit
hands-on science centers only when they are children or when they
have their own children, and I think that they are missing out.
Science centers can be fun and interesting for everyone! Our
favorite part was the planetarium show. We also liked seeing a
births and deaths map of the world and playing with a big Soma Cube
set.
Our third day had continual rain and
rough seas, which was perfect for our trip to the star attraction:
the Kiama Blowhole! The Kiama Blowhole is a naturally-formed hole in
rock by the shoreline that means when a wave is big enough the water
is propelled up and out:
The weather was miserable but it was a great sight! Afterward we warmed up with some sandwiches and hot chocolate before dripping our way back to Wollongong.
We checked out the local culture with
dinner at the Steelers (local rugby league team) Club. Their Chinese
restaurant was great and we had a spicy 铁板牛肉!
On our final day the rain finally broke
and we could walk outside without getting soaked! The surf was still
too rough for swimming, but we had fun walking along the beaches and
seeing what the big waves had done. We had a great time and did not
let the rain get in our way!
