The rock pools that are dotted down the Illawarra coast are one of the region's drawcards, for those who know about them. (Which I admit I didn't before I moved here but hey, swimming in the ocean? Not my thing.)

Obviously copping a pounding by waves year in and year out takes its toll, and they need a bit of periodic maintenance. So back in June Wollongong City Council contracted with an outfit to do that at Austinmer, with reopening slated for September before the summer swimming season. At a guess they underestimated the difficulty of it (as you can probably guess from this, much of the work can only be done at low tide) and they went broke.

From the view here, I'd say that the barrier is a good indicator that there will be no work today.

(The council Facebook page (Facebook? Really?) declared on Christmas eve that "We'll have Austinmer rock pools open for Christmas. Enjoy these wonderful pools but remember they are still partially completed and can be dangerous." Err... maybe you guys should really wait until they ARE completed before opening them? Just an idea...)