October long weekend crowds praise Wollongong council facilities

Hot long weekend weather meant crowds were out in force in the popular park, but bins soon overflowed and winds swept rubbish across the grass.

Wollongong resident Olivia Peters spotted the mess around 9am on Monday, October 2, while walking her dog.

"The extent of the rubbish was a bit disrespectful," she said.

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"People should take it with them if all the bins are full. I'm sure as they walk away they'd be walking past other bins."

Ms Peters did however praise council for its quick response in cleaning up the mess.

When the Mercury visited the park at 11.30am it was all clean, and filled with hundreds of people picnicking on the grass, many of them had praise for the facilities.

Camden man Riad Almasri and his family were among the crowds and he said Wollongong facilities are much better than in Sydney's Inner West.

"That's the reason why we come here, it is always nice and clean," he said.

Mr Almasri has never seen piles of rubbish during his visits to Stuart Park and said " there's probably bad eggs in every basket".

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Adib Matti is another regular visitor to Wollongong, and was there on public holiday Monday.

"Every time we think about where to go the first choice is Wollongong," he said.

"There's good places for sitting and gathering."

Mr Matti said a few more barbecues are needed, along with more regular cleaning of the picnic table areas.

Camden woman Monique Coffa is another regular visitor.

"The facilities are great, I went to the toilets and it was really clean. There's no bins overflowing," she said.

Leppington resident Franks Tripodi regularly brings his family to Wollongong and said he's never seen excess rubbish in the area.

"Wherever you look there's bins about," he said.

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