Peter Hodgkins had been drinking for hours before he threw the rock that shattered Nicole Miller's skull at Bombo.
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He later admitted he was warned not to throw the rock, but did it anyway.
Yesterday the 24-year-old pleaded guilty in Wollongong Local Court to the July 22 rock attack and other offences he was linked to after the incident.
Hodgkins, whose bail was continued, will now be sentenced in Wollongong District Court for maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm to the 22-year-old beautician; breaking and entering a Kiama Jehovah's Witness hall and committing a serious indictable offence; and an aggravated break and enter at a showground storeroom.
Further charges of maliciously destroying property, larceny and throwing an object at a train will also be considered by the District Court during sentencing.
Police laid the property-related charges in October after connecting Hodgkins' fingerprints to several crime scenes.
On October 2, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) tried unsuccessfully to revoke Hodgkins' bail because of the new charges.
Yesterday, the DPP did not make another application, and Hodgkins walked out of court.
On the night of the attack, Hodgkins and his friends had been drinking since the early evening, finishing up at the Kiama Inn about 2am. The group walked to a nearby kebab shop before heading home to Kiama Downs.
One of the group took his clothes off and walked back part of the way naked.
Hodgkins said they were walking on to the road at times before they stopped at Bombo Railway Station.
There they threw rocks at a parked train and Hodgkins tried to break a public telephone by smashing the receiver on the phone screen.
The group then walked up the ramp connecting Kiama with Kiama Downs and they began to throw rocks at trucks driving below.
When police asked him why he threw the rocks, Hodgkins replied: "I don't know, it's just stupid really."
The first rocks he threw were aimed at the trailers of passing trucks, but when he saw the silver Holden Astra Ms Miller was travelling in, Hodgkins was holding a rock he estimated weighed about 1kg.
His friend said: "Don't throw a rock at the car."
When the rock hit, the car slowed and stopped before the driver flagged down a passing motorist for help.
Hodgkins told police he and his mates "just took off".
They hid for a while before going home.
He later told police: "I never sort of thought it would actually hit a person."
Police asked Hodgkins what he thought would happen if he threw a 1kg rock from a height of 8m at a car travelling about 100km/h. He said it "would have a pretty big impact".
"For the person, if it hit them, it would do some damage," he said.
"Serious damage."
Ms Miller was in a coma for four days after the attack, with a fractured skull and a brain laceration. She had part of her skull removed and spent months recovering in hospital.
Hodgkins is due in court on December 14 to be committed for sentence.
