It was between December and January 2015/ 2016, I came down to Sydney, Australia from Mumbai, India with my husband to celebrate the engagement of my son Vivek to Anita.
After the engagement celebrations, we still had 15 days to have fun with our son and so we decided to help Anita and him scope out wedding and reception venues for November 2016 in Sydney before we leave for India. After a few days of intense search, we realized that Sydney was a notoriously difficult place to find a good wedding venue for Indian style wedding ceremonies. So we decided to use our limited time to relax and visit tourist places around Sydney.
Vivek and Anita later found a beautiful venue in a place called Toowoomba near Brisbane, Queensland, as their wedding destination.
So we went on to visit Kiama Blowhole and Stanwell Beach which are important tourist spots near Sydney.
On the way to Kiama and near Stanwell Beach we spotted the stunning and famous Sea Cliff Bridge and my son drove on the bridge. It was a beautiful experience and a great scenic drive.
The Kiama Blowhole is one of the largest blowholes in the world is located in the town of Kiama in NSW. It is the town's major tourist attraction. It is Kiama’s major tourist attraction. It is estimated that this blowhole attracts over 600,000 people per year. People come to view the spectacular plumes of water that can be seen when the seas are running from the southeast.
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During high tide, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres (82 ft) in the air, in quantities that can drench bystanders. A viewing platform with disabled access gives good views of the Kiama blowhole.
Some of the boards display what is Blowhole and how it works
There is a second, less famous blowhole in Kiama, commonly referred to as the "Little Blowhole" by locals. It is much smaller due to its narrow shape, it is more reliable than the Big Blowhole, and in the right conditions can be equally spectacular, according to some friends who had visited the site earlier in the year.
The "little blowhole" is located at the Little Blowhole Reserve, Tingira Crescent, a few minutes drive south of the main blowhole.
After visiting the main blowhole, on the way back to Sydney, we went to the famous Stanwell Beach Stanwell Park Beach. This pristine location at Stanwell Beach looked ideal for families with a large area for picnics and is located right on the beach. This is located 26 kilometres north of the Wollongong central business district.
This beach is also famous for its hang-gliders and para-gliders and we had an opportunity to photograph them preparing for action. Unfortunately, on that day the wind did not cooperate for me to photograph the gliders soaring above the cliffs and the Pacific Ocean.
Made famous by Australian Aeronautical pioneer Lawrence Hargrave, Stanwell Park Beach is where Lawrence first flew his box kite on November 12,1894. Today, this picturesque village on the northern tip of Woologong is an internationally acclaimed area for hang-gliding and paragliding.
Famous in world aviation history, Stanwell Park is where Australian aeronautical pioneer Lawrence Hargrave first flew in his box kite on 12 November 1894. Today, this picturesque village on the northern tip of Wollongong is an internationally acclaimed area for hang-gliding and paragliding. Then we relaxed on the sandy beach for an hour.
By Lalitha Vaidyanathan
