In the middle of last week, the fencing was quietly taken away from around the North Wollongong seawall.
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It has been a long wait, with weather and other issues causing Wollongong City Council to keep pushing back the opening date.
But the first beachgoes got to sit on its tiered seating last week, just as a heatwave rolled into town.
"It certainly fits in with the summer season and the fact is it's a very, very popular beach location," Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said.
"It's great having it open now just in time for Christmas and the massive upload of visitors to our city."
The process started back in early 2021, when the council accepted a tender for construction, but then various issues caused delays to the seawall.
"It's certainly been a long process," Cr Bradbery said.
"The project was started at a time when we had a lot of rain and they were challenges with the ocean swell and also other things were going on so we didn't have the weather on our side when it was commenced.
"There were also challenges for the builders as the project itself had to be rethought during its construction because it had to be prefabricated elsewhere."
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
