Lord Mayor's column: Here comes the sun

Looking at this weekend’s weather forecast, you could be forgiven for thinking we’ve skipped spring and headed straight into summer!

With temps just under 30 degrees forecast for Wollongong on Sunday, it’s certainly a far cry from the bone-chilling wind chill factor we enjoyed earlier this week.

This is spring at its best and it’s timely to remember that if you’re thinking of a dip in the surf, then North Wollongong Beach should be your go-to destination.

It’s Wollongong’s year-round lifeguarded beach with our safe surf superheroes on duty from 9am-4pm this weekend.

Council’s full cohort of professional lifeguards are ready in the wings for the start of the 2026-2027 swim season.

From Saturday 26 September, they’ll return to duty on our beaches and pools.

Between now and next April, more than 150 Council lifeguards will clock up nearly 29,000 patrol hours, with additional support from Surf Lifesaving Illawarra volunteer patrols on Sundays and public holidays.

This week, I had the pleasure of meeting a few of our Lifeguards and the city’s lifesavers to talk about the season ahead.

The message from everyone was the same – be safe and only swim during patrol hours between the red and yellow flags.

So, if you’re tempted this weekend be sure to head to North Wollongong or consider swimming in one of the city’s nine saltwater rock pools. Don’t put yourself and others at risk by swimming unsupervised.

Did you hear about the live event coming to Wollongong next week featuring two leading industry figures with connections to our city?

On Wednesday 23 September Canva Co-Founder and CEO Melanie Perkins and Australia’s favourite scientist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM will come together for a fireside Q&A at the University of Wollongong.

I’m really looking forward to this free event which offers everyone the chance to hear Ms Perkins talk about her career, the early days of Canva and the ideas that have guided her along the way.

Canva has a vested interest in Wollongong as they’re partnering with Council in a non-commercial arrangement on Wollongong Goals.

Wollongong Goals is a pilot project that’s about hearing from as many people across our community about what they want for the future of Wollongong, Australia and the world. It’s about exploring a new way of community engagement that uses Canva’s technology and creativity and Council’s well-established approaches to giving all voices in our community a say in the city’s future.

I’ve been hearing so many great goals from our community – and really loved my visit to Shining Stars Early Leaning Centre last week where their goals focused on protecting our beaches and wildlife, growing trees for koalas and asking everyone to pick up their rubbish.

It’s not too late to share your goal for Wollongong, either.

You can share their goals at one of the purpose-built letterboxes across the city or in the mini-boxes in our community centres and libraries, or online anytime at wollongonggoals.org