The 'Gong

Despite having visited far-flung Australian locations such as Kakadu National Park and Rottnest Island, I'd never been to the steel city of Wollongong, a mere two hours south of Sydney. Situation rectified.

Rose early yesterday and caught a train from Central to Unanderra (pronounced "you-nan-dare-ah"). Very reminiscent of the journey to Newcastle, though with more undulating terrain and denser vegetation.

From the station, it was a 30-minute tromp through a light industrial area to the gate of the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple. Imposing Chinese buildings amid landscaped grounds. The landscape was dominated by an eight-storey pagoda ("Game Of Death"!). I had the set-menu vegetarian lunch, then took a guided tour of the grounds and museum. The staff were a great ad for the religion: cool, calm and collected.

Backtracking to the 'Gong proper, I checked into my hotel and sought directions to the Five Islands Brewery. It was on the ocean side of WIN Stadium and smaller than I'd envisaged. There were nine house beers available and I tried them all, while chatting to a German engineer and sassing the barmaids. Had a moment of clarity during my 10th glass that if I tried to repeat the feat, I'd experience what's known in competitive eating as "urges contrary to swallowing".

Phoned a cab from the Steelers Club around the corner as I'd been advised not to walk through the city alone at night. Which brings me to an observation: Wollongong, like Newcastle, is urban living with rural social problems. Number one being - as someone reliant on public transport is constantly made aware - disaffected youth. Don't ask me what the answer is, other than using a car to avoid the groups of roaming teenagers.

Safely in my room, I read the weekend edition of "The Illawarra Mercury". Decent content for a regional paper. I usually skip the real estate section, but I couldn't help noticing the prices weren't much better than here.

This morning saw me at the third and final tourist attraction of my mini-break: the Science Centre And Planetarium. Lots of hands-on exhibits demonstrating scientific principles. Better than Newie's Supernova (now part of the Hunter Regional Museum), but inferior to Canberra's heavily funded Questacon. Can't compare the planetarium to Perth's Scitech as the grown-up doco wasn't on until 3pm and I had a train to catch. The boss was nice enough to give me a lift to the nearest station.

Doubt I'll return to the 'Gong in a hurry, but at least I can say I've been there and done (a weird mix of) that :-)