Opening up Kiama's hidden world to tourists

Now Kiama's deputy mayor, Warren Steel, believes incorporating the dramatic landscape of the Bombo quarry headland into Kiama's walking track network would create an even greater tourist attraction.

The old Bombo quarry, a heritage listed site, is described on the State Heritage Inventory as having an "almost surreal landscape".

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"Freestanding rock pillars, varying benches and quarry faces evoke a strange sculptural landscape of rock, sea and sky," the inventory says.

The old quarry is also one of the most significant geological sites in NSW.

Part of the headland is occupied by Sydney Water, for a sewerage treatment plant opened in 1988, the rest is in the hands of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, but under the care and control of Kiama Council.

"It is like a sea of tranquillity ... you get down here and you are in another world," Cr Steel said.

A favourite location for wedding photos, television commercials and even the odd Power Rangers movie, the site can be accessed via trails that divert from the existing 22km Kiama Coast Walk, but Cr Steel's vision is for a formed path through the quarry with steps to rise up the old quarry walls, linking to the Boneyard and then on to Minnamurra.

He argues the walk could prove more successful than the Gerringong walk as it would be "shorter and closer to town".

"There is nothing like this in Australia that has all these shapes and colours in the one location," Cr Steel said. "It is also a great fishing spot, you could even use the area for Segway machines ... this area is untapped."

Cr Steel said he had lobbied Kiama MP Gareth Ward for funds, even suggesting part of the $100 million in funds from the Port Kembla lease be put towards promoting the site.

"It is a spectacular place," Mr Ward said.

Quarrying of blue metal at the quarry began in 1880. A conservation order was placed on the site in 1983.