Wollongong's heritage is as an industrial town, specifically a steel town. These days it's hard to make a living with a first world steel plant, so as with many traditional rust belt towns the employment that came from the steel mills isn't what it once was. The workforce has has had to diversify. Part of the hope for new employment is pinned on the local university, the University of Wollongong. The only issue is that the UOW is seen as a bit parochial, and not all that desirable compared to the older "sandstone" universities like the University of Sydney. That may not be a fair assessment, indeed I don't think it is, but I've seen the looks on some people's faces when they hear that another person studied there.

You can see the Bluescope (formerly BHP) steel mill in the distance, belching steam and fire, with some (harder to see at this resolution) cargo ships in the port in front of it.

Just below mid frame on the left you can see a largish building which I believe is the Science Space of the university's Innovation Campus. The science space suffers from the same problem as Questacon in Canberra; which is to say, there is stuff all indication of what its target audience is. Is it only kids? Is it adults? Is it a mixture of the two? The institutions' web pages tell you bupkis about that. It's the main reason that I've never had any inclination to go to either of them. I've no interest in landing in a museum designed for 7 year olds.

The other distinguishing feature sits in between. The Wollongong of old consisted of separate houses and low rise blocks of flats as you can see in the foreground. Around the city centre itself, though, the apartment buildings are reaching for the sky.

You would not have seen that 40 years ago. I'm not at all sure that it's an improvement.

I shot this with a long range lens from the lookout at Bulli Tops, which has a gelateria and coffee shop located alongside.