Wading through Wollongong

Aug 2017

I’ll be honest, I haven’t lived in Wollongong. However, I still wanted to include it in my ‘roots’ section purely because for three years I came here most weekdays for uni, many weekends to hang-out with people and regularly on weeknights to see my brother’s band play. I did these things while studying fine art at the University of Wollongong. I would also stay with my boyfriend’s family in Dapto bi-weekly, because Wollongong is where I met my honey-pie, Simon.

So I think I can safely call Wollongong a part of my roots. Any objections, please speak now. No? Okay, I’ll go on.

It was in Wollongong that my dream sparked and changed. It was here that I realised that I wanted to be a pastry chef. It was here that I began my patisserie studies with night classes while desperately trying to finish my fine art degree simultaneously.

I spent a lot of time in this place. My brother, his friend Phil and I would regularly frequent Chicko’s (don’t go there If you like salad), get takeaway chips and sit in one of their cars on the Wollongong Headland, overlooking the harbour.

Wollongong is one of those towns where I think if you weren’t from there, and you didn’t really dig the beach or see any of the bits that aren’t the town centre then you’d kind of hate it. The town centre isn’t bad, it’s got everything you’d need but for me, it doesn’t have much in the way of charm. I like a town that has a little bit of something extra. I don’t know exactly what that is, but the main shopping part of Wollongong, just doesn’t have it. Other bits do have charm though!

Favourite times & places in Wollongong:

The Wollongong Botanic Garden, my personal favourite part is near the Gleniffer Brae manor house. There’s a giant tree there where the branches stood so low that you can sit under it and pretend it’s a little house. The Garden is also great for picnics, grass naps, tree climbing and watercolour painting, all of which I’ve completed myself or been involved in, i.e. this one time Simon climbed a tree while I watched.

Simon taking creepy pics of me while in a tree, Botanic Garden, Wollongong

Figtree, the suburb is a lovely little place. It’s hilly and there are deer, and the best bit is that on Christmas Eve all the people who live there put out these candles in paper bags filled with sand along the road in front of their houses. They call it ‘Santa’s runway’. It’s glorious and so Christmassy. I would make my family go, despite my mum’s protests. She’s no Grinch, she actually loves Christmas but she gets tired and grumpy easily and my excess Christmas cheer can be a little intense.
Driving up Mount Keira one evening and seeing an Echidna crossing the road! For international readers, an echidna is an Australian version of a hedgehog or porcupine. They’re adorable and the friend I was with just stopped her car and we waited while it slowly meandered across the road, while saying ‘awww’ the entire time.
It was where I finally graduated from my art degree! This was a long time coming. I had had the year long stint in Melbourne and it left me back where I started, academically speaking. I couldn’t transfer into second year of a degree because I had failed a few subjects back at RMIT (my bad). So this graduation felt amazing.
The time my friends and I drive from Wollongong, during an art class so we could see a movie. The intended movie: Insidious. The watched movie: Incendies. Funniest experience ever made especially so by my own ignorance to what Insidious actually was, meaning I had no idea it was the wrong movie. I realised halfway through that it was the wrong movie, to the delight of my friends who already knew this, like as soon as it started. I laughed the remainder of the movie.
Many trips to the various op shops around Wollongong with my bro and pal, Sammy.
Many family drives to the beach, some featuring our dogs, Olive and Gemma. One time my mum, who loves Olive like a second daughter, bought her an ice-cream and got me to hold it under her nose the drive home from Wollongong to Mittagong. She only had a few licks...

The Hemmings family tradition of a Christmas Eve barbecue picnic at Gerroa beach, followed by a good ole Paddle Pop or Golden Gaytime (classic Aussie ice-creams), and a drive around the Illawarra on the hunt for Christmas lights.

Gigs in and around Wollongong. Mostly this refers to my brother’s band, The Pennys who are no longer kicking. I mean they’re not dead, but they don’t play together in that exact line-up anymore. My favourite gig spot was always The Brewery down near Wollongong beach because you could see a gig, drink many beers, and then wander down to the sea for a skinny dip. What’s not the love? Note: I only skinny dipped that one time so don’t go thinking I’m some kind of nudist.
Leaving uni early to go on lunch dates with Simon at our favourite restaurant, Trang (more on Trang later). It sounds like I was always leaving uni early, I swear I did go to class.
All the uni hangs with my friends: laying in the grass, quoting movies, watching movies, driving around, eating subway, laughing at each other, getting in trouble from lecturers from being too loud or laughing too much, and many other general misadventures.

Having my first date with Simon, ending with us awkwardly chit-chatting up at the Wollongong Lighthouse, you know those pre-first-kiss chats?
Celebrating our first anniversary by going up to that same lighthouse just before sunrise so we could sit there, eating our breakfast and watch the sun come up.

This town has got a lot of charming things in it, but it’s got its issues too. There’s a lot of general dodginess and crime. It’s pretty grungy in lots of areas, but super ritzy in others. It’s surrounded by some adorable little towns like Bulli, Austinmer and Thirroul, but also some less nice ones too. I won’t mention these by name. I don’t want to get knifed.

I never felt completely comfortable in Wollongong. I always felt a little on edge, a little out of place. Maybe it was the abundance of beach babes that would walk around Crown Street Mall with just bikini tops on as shirts when I was there in my blue 1970s vintage frock with offensively puffy sleeves, or it could have just been the vibe. Some places have a really chilled, open vibe and others are a bit more stand-offish. That was my experience of Wollongong. A little stand-offish, a little bit off-kilter. But that’s really just me and it didn’t stop me from having some of the most exciting, hilarious, boozy, fun, groovy and downright delightful moments of my life so far. Because of that, it will always have a special place in my little heart.