From Wollongong South: The Coast Road to Kiama, Jervis Bay and Beyond

The drive south from Wollongong along the Grand Pacific Drive and the Princes Highway provides the access to the beaches, headlands, and coastal communities of the Illawarra and Shoalhaven that make the stretch from Wollongong to Jervis Bay one of the most rewarding coastal drives in New South Wales. The combination of the Sea Cliff Bridge viewpoint at Clifton, the Kiama blowhole and lighthouse, the Berry main street, and the white sand beaches of Jervis Bay's Hyams Beach create the coastal itinerary that day trippers from Wollongong and weekend visitors from Sydney and Canberra make the coastal south coast road for.

Kiama, 30 kilometres south of Wollongong, provides the coastal town destination whose combination of the famous blowhole, the harbour precinct, the lighthouse, and the beaches of Kendalls and Bombo create the compact coastal attractions package that justifies the short drive from the city. The town's Saturday morning farmers' market and the café and restaurant strip that the harbour precinct supports provide the food culture complement to the natural attractions that makes Kiama the most visited day trip destination for Wollongong residents.

Berry, the heritage village on the Princes Highway inland from Seven Mile Beach, has become one of the most popular Saturday excursion destinations for Sydney and Wollongong visitors who want the combination of antique shops, independent food businesses, and the Berry Showground that hosts the monthly community market. The town's heritage main street, protected by the conservation area that prevents the developer pressure that has transformed other highway towns, maintains the character that the visitor economy depends on.

Jervis Bay, the marine park whose waters provide the clearest and cleanest beaches in southern New South Wales and whose Hyams Beach is in the Guinness Book of Records for the whitest sand in the world, provides the coastal destination that requires either a long day trip or an overnight from Wollongong but rewards the journey with the marine environment quality that the bay's protected status and the absence of river sedimentation maintain.

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