Kiama
Home of the Famous Blowhole
On the lands of the Wodi Wodi people.
schedule 1 min read / Updated Apr 2026
A south coast dairy town two hours from Sydney, built around one of the most powerful sea blowholes on earth. On a good south-easterly swell, the Kiama Blowhole can shoot a column of water over 25 metres into the air with a thunder that shakes the headland.
Kiama sits on Wodi Wodi country at the southern end of the Illawarra plain. The blowhole was formed tens of thousands of years ago when volcanic basalt cooled unevenly, leaving a cavity that the ocean gradually carved through. It was first recorded by Europeans in 1797 when George Bass heard it before he saw it.
The main blowhole is right in town, next to the lighthouse and the harbour, and is the second largest of its kind in the world. The smaller Little Blowhole a few kilometres south is less dramatic but more predictable and rarely crowded. Both work best on a rising tide with a strong south-easterly swell.
Beyond the blowhole, Kiama is a good base for the Minnamurra Rainforest, the Cathedral Rocks coast walk, and the Kiama Coast Walk that runs 22 kilometres down to Gerringong through farmland and clifftops.
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- Buller's Albatross off Kiama NSW.jpg · PotMart186 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Coast at Kiama Heights, Kiama Parish Camden County NSW.png · D A R C 12345 · CC0
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