Popular travel show host Tom Williams gave Illawarra's newest tourist attraction the seal of approval yesterday when he visited the spectacular Robertson treetop walk overlooking Macquarie Pass and Lake Illawarra.

"This is fantastic," he said when he climbed the spiral stairway to the top of the 45m tower on the Illawarra Fly to see the majestic view looking north over Shellharbour and Wollongong.

"It is massive, isn't it?" he said.



The Great Outdoors presenter was also very interested in how the giant meccano set was constructed and believed young people with inquisitive minds would be particularly interested.

Williams said the view and ecology were one thing but schoolchildren would particularly want to know how it was made and would not be able to resist jumping up and down on the end of the cantilever arms.

He believed many young aspiring engineers would want to know how many people could stand on the viewing platforms at the end of the two cantilevers suspended above the canopy at the top of the Illawarra Escarpment.

His crew were amused by Illawarra Fly general manager Sean Haylan's answer when he said it had a 450-wombat capacity.





Williams said it provided more diversity to the region after the opening of Sea Cliff Bridge and other recent arrivals such as the new Taipan ride at Jamberoo Action Park and three new hotels opening in Wollongong this year.

He said he had not seen tourism expansion on such a scale in any other part of Australia recently.

The Great Outdoors has been filming in the Kiama area this week and the Illawarra Fly segment will go to air nationally within the next few months.

The treetop walk will open to the public on March 15 and travel media from Sydney and Canberra will get their first glimpse during a tour of the site this weekend.

Training is being provided to 20 people already employed at the attraction which is generating enormous interest at www.illawarrafly.com.au.

M FS Living and Leisure Group also operates the Otway Fly, Hotham and Falls Creek ski resorts, Oceanis aquariums, and plans to build similar treetop walks in North America.