About Bulli
The historic coal mining village of Bulli, now considered a northern suburb of Wollongong, has in recent years become an increasingly chic destination with a superb local pub, excellent cafes on the beach and the arrival of people happy to commute to Sydney on the electric train service. Nestled under the Illawarra escarpment and blessed with beautiful beaches the town is slowly evolving from worker’s paradise to fashionable south coast retreat (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Getting there
Another non-stop rain affected 213km drive from Lake Macquarie to Bulli Beach, with a stop-over for lunch at our friends Tim & Ann’s place in Hornsby Heights (route map).
Accommodation
Bulli Beach Tourist Park is basically located at the bottom of the infamous Bulli Pass (on the old Pacific Highway) and is situated right on the beach; a top location (maplink).
A break in the rain with a walk along the beach
The a 20m stroll from the caravan park takes you to a coastal path, which is part of the NSW Coastal Cycle Trail. The “shared” path follows the coastline with great views over the ocean. We walked a couple of kms along it returning to Ruby’s Cafe Bulli (which we cans we from our caravan) for a coffee.
Then the rain returned AGAIN!
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The “Sea Cliff” Bridge
We took a drive out to Clifton (maplink) to check out an amazing engineering feat called the “Sea Cliff Bridge” where a section of Lawrence Hargrave Drive has been built out over the ocean (read more on WikiPedia).
Regular rock-slides along Lawrence Hargrave Drive forced its closure in 2003, but a public outcry resulted, as it is the only road directly linking the towns of Coalcliff, Stanwell Park, Otford and Helensburgh to the northern suburbs of Wollongong. The A$52 million 450-metre-long bridge was completed in 2005 and has now become a world-wide tourist attraction.
Summing up…
- Accommodation – Bulli Beach Tourist Park (02) 4285 5677
- Cost per night – $42.33 (@ 3-Oct-2022)
- Stayed for – 3 nights
- Facilities – Dated but cleaned regularly
- CP Location – 1 Farrell Rd Bulli
- Our rating/score – 6/10
- Was it a nice town to visit? – Too hard to say as it rained the whole time
- Activities & places of interest – Probably plenty to do, when its dry
- Tourist info centre? – Tops, Southern Gateway Centre – M1, Bulli (02) 4267 5910
- Would we return? – Yes – when it’s not raining
- We rate the town – 7/10
- Overall thoughts – So disappointed by the weather BUT we will return as it has great prospects.