Picturesque and nestled between the mountains and the sea, the serene and beautiful city of Wollongong lies just about 51miles south of Sydney. It was originally an aborigine settlement. A multi-culture heaven for the tourists this place is just an hour away from Sydney by car/bus and 11/2 hours by train.

The city of Wollongong has a delightful and vibrant raw energy. One can experience a multi cuisine bonanza here that surpasses any other Australian city. The place has eateries, arcades, malls and galleries to delight the visitors. Wollongong is considered as the gateway to the Illawarra coast known for its wonderful resorts and sparkling white beaches. Stanwell Park, Sandon Point and Coledale beaches nearby are easily accessible from here.

Wollongong is known for its steel industry which lures various immigrant cultures to the city, largest Buddhist temple of Southern Hemisphere, and art gallery with aborigine art forms from across the nation and the Illawarra Museum, which tells the history of the region, and the Illawarra Motoring Museum.

The fish market here offers a huge range of sea food and the must have for the first time visitor is fish n chips. The main street called Crown Street has plenty of shops.

Symbio Koala Gardens has around 120 species of animals like emus, dingo, deer, ostrich, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, and peacocks. Some of the finest and mesmerizing lagoons and beeches are in this sea side city and are patrolled by the efficient life guards. Some of the beaches are protected and calm while others offer surfing options and ultimate family fun. Lake Illawara boasts of many Lake Illawara offers many water sports, wind surfing, fishing and prawning, sailing, hang gliding and parasailing apart from other diverse activities.

For those who are looking for tranquility and peace this city offers beautiful landscapes and serene environment. There are various look out points and walking trails around this place. Mt Kembla, Mt Keira and the Bulli Scenic Lookout give a bird’s eye view of the city and surrounding places. To the south lies the enchanting Morton National Park which is defiantly worth a visit. There are also some nice bike paths one can take to explore the area.

North Beach and South Wollongong City Beach are the two beached on the sides of the harbor. The north beach offers surfing facilities. The harbor is the center of Wollongong.

The University of Wollongang contributes to the major student population that we see there. There are regular buses to take you around the city and to nearby places. The main bus station is situated at the corner Keira and Campbell Streets.

Wollongong is close to the Blue Mountains and Jarvis Bay and offers easy access to big cities like Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne.

One can stay in caravans, beach units, guest houses, hotels and hostels which offer stunning views and are easy on everyone’s pocket.

Visit the third largest city in Australia whenever you plan a vacation and experience the pristine beauty of Wollongong.

Sydney has a history starting from the prehistoric era. The Sydney Harbor, previously known as Port Jackson was inhabited by the Aborigines for over forty thousand years. You can still find evidences of their existence through the carvings on the rocks at various places. Despite a lot of development that the city has undergone over the years these rocks still bear those marks and are considered to be worth seeing due to the sandstone content of the rocks rendering it convenient for those carvings.

The latter part of the 19th century saw huge digging to set up a canal in an area called Alexandria which threw up more proofs of the dwellings of the Aborigines and some more evidences sprung up when caves bearing some carvings were discovered in Glenbrook, indicating that the Aborigines had inhabited that place twenty thousand years ago.

Sydney beckoned the Europeans with the discovery of Botany Bay by Captain James Cook in the year 1770 and very soon Arthur Phillip formed the first colony in 1788 following orders from the British. Arthur Phillip actually arrived at Sydney Cove which was also known as Port Harbor and now the modern Sydney.

This incursion by the Europeans was obviously not well received by the Aborigines and the spread of diseases like measles, smallpox and chicken pox only added to their woes. This was because the Aborigines had yet to develop immunity to these diseases and despite the best efforts of Governor Phillip to limit interactions between the Aborigines and the settlers, there was no relief from these diseases.
In 1789, the worst catastrophe in the form of small pox spread rapidly taking a heavy toll of the Aborigines and belief has it that the epidemic was caused due to one of the Aborigines unsettling the death place of one of the French sailor who had expired of small pox. This has however been debated at length and has been found to be untrue. This epidemic meant that by the beginning of the 19th century, the Aborigines had lost 90% of their population that existed in 1788.

Thanks to the rush for gold to Australia in the middle of the 19th century, Sydney saw the influx of huge numbers of miners to tap into the gold resources leading to the population surging from about 40,000 to over 200,000 in just two decades. This also meant that the city infrastructure had to cope up and led to drastic improvements in the city’s port and rail networks. This continued till the middle of the 19th century and when people saw the opportunity in Victoria for gold, they started moving towards Victoria and thus began a period of competition between Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia became a federation and the question now was about recognizing one city as the capital and despite hectic lobbying from both Sydney and Melbourne, the country named Canberra which was a new city created as the capital and effectively settled the debate.
Rapid industrialization thereafter ensured the progress of Sydney and its population grew fast to cross the one million mark by the beginning of the 20th century.