Fairy Meadow has become a hub for health and fitness, from activewear businesses to supplement stores and, of course, gyms and personal trainers. It’s also become known for catering to different types of sporting interests, whether you’re into running, bodybuilding or martial arts. With its flat locale and proximity to the beach, Fairy Meadow was already a great spot to take a leisurely stroll or work up sweat.
Discover what other health and fitness businesses and organisations there are.
Lokamo
Lokamo is a boutique activewear store, with everything from compression tights and light-weight running shorts, to insulated drink bottles and summer slides. The business also has specialty pop up stores servicing gyms and events throughout the Illawarra and offers an online shopping experience. It sources and handpicks the best activewear collections that are tested and tried by fitness and lifestyle experts.
Base Health and Fitness
Offering a range of classes for all fitness and experience levels, Base members are supported by a highly qualified coach assisting with technique. Head coach and Base owner Taylor offers online coaching for those that live too far away. Open gym is available for those who wish to do their thing, at their own pace.
North Wollongong Park Run
Park Run starts at Elliotts Road in Fairy Meadow, adjacent to Fairy Meadow Surf Club. It is a free, fun, and friendly weekly 5km community event held on Saturdays from 8am. Participants can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate - choose your own pace.
Anytime Fitness
Part of the Anytime Fitness group, the Fairy Meadow location believes in inclusivity. It welcomes people no matter the body type, fitness level, ability, gender or background. You will be supported by expert personal trainers and all the equipment needed to push yourself harder.
Zion Fitness
The mission of Zion Fitness is to help “create positive, long term and lasting changes to both your health and your life”. This is achieved through qualified and compassionate staff and the most up to date facilities. The business has been operating since 2019 and is located in close proximity to the train station and bus stops.
Pilates Haus
A pilates and yoga sanctuary, Pilates Haus is a tranquil space to relax and unwind. You can enjoy a range of classes including Pilates Reformer, Dynamic Reformer, HIIP, Jump, Mums & Bubs, Reformer Stretch + Strengthen, yoga classes and private sessions. Studio owner Rayna Gillott has been teaching yoga and pilates throughout the Illawarra for more than 15 years.
Circus Monoxide
Wollongong’s circus hub, Circus Monoxide, is an inclusive and ever evolving centre for high flying, stilt walking, spinning and tumbling entertainers of all ages. Led by world renowned trainers, it offers classes six days per week and performance opportunities during, and at the end of, each term.
Carlson Hizon Fitness
Over the past 10 years, Carlson Hizon Fitness has delivered a huge variety of classes and specialty training to help you improve its community’s health, wellbeing and overall fitness. CHF offers personal and small group training, classes and outdoor bootcamps, infrared sauna and massage therapy, and interactive workshops and seminars. It also has a cafe and aromatherapist on site.
Pash Movement Pilates
A little different to other pilates providers, Pash Movement Pilates key focus is on the breath, pelvic floor engagement and the correct execution of the movement itself. The studio offers Balanced Body Rialto Reformers, which are set higher off the floor for ease, and
Balanced Body Tower + Mat Conversion, to provide a pilates trapeze experience. The two pieces of equipment are a must-try for enthusiasts and a delight for anyone wishing to explore pilates for the first time.
Pat 4 Pilates Fitness
Aimed at achieving total body conditioning, Pat 4 Pilates Fitness includes low impact and safe pilates, yoga and fitness exercises. Owner Pat is a certified pilates, yoga and fitness instructor and has more than 20 years of experience working in the local area. Starting as a personal trainer, her passion for functional and fascial fitness, pilates and yoga led to her creating her unique classes.
Savvy Fitness
Providing outdoor group fitness and personal training, Savvy Fitness has more than 70 classes each week, including run-specific classes, indoor cycling, boxing, resistance & HIIT classes, yoga and pilates. It recently merged with Amplified Health, a well-respected provider of allied health and clinical therapies. This means it’s now able to offer a wide range of health and wellness services to its members.
SMAI
In 1985, the SMAI founders began producing martial arts uniforms and punching bags from their home garage in Wollongong, Now, the internationally acclaimed brand crafts sports and martial arts supplies that are used and trusted around the world, serving a wider athletic market. From global fitness franchises, military setups, new gyms, to athletes at every level, it offers 3000 products.
The Yard Gym
A boutique strength and conditioning space, The Yard Gym caters to all fitness levels and age groups. It offers a world-class training facility with programs tailored to better physical and mental wellbeing. With more than 40 group training sessions on offer, it focuses on strength, power, strength endurance, conditioning and cardio.
Crossfit Wollongong
Aimed at changing its members’ lives and developing meaningful relationships with them, Crossfit Wollongong adjusts its approach for each individual. It offers CrossFit, Kids Program, Sweat, and Partner Workouts, while its recovery services include a sauna, massage and body scans. Qualified coaches will conduct the InBody Body Composition Assessment to give meaningful and in depth feedback about your results.
UniActive 24/7 Innovation Campus
Located at the University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus, UniActive is open to the wider Wollongong community, not just university staff and students. It offers quality gym facilities and fitness services. Its group timetable includes FMT Athletic, Yoga, Pilates, Over 55 Fitness, Cardio Box and FMT Strength. Its equipment includes the Evolt 360 Body Composition Analyser, which provides a full detailed report on what your body is made up of.
Fitness 4 All
An NDIS registered provider with extensive experience in supporting people with disabilities, Fitness 4 All provides the opportunity to get fit and healthy. Participants can exercise in groups or with a qualified personal trainer alone in the fully equipped gym. There is access to specialist exercise physiologists, fitness tests and comprehensive health reports, along with dietary advice and healthy eating plans.
Nutrition Warehouse
Located around Australia, Nutrition Warehouse in Fairy Meadow provides customers with access to the most sought after sports, bodybuilding and general health supplements from Australia and America. It includes protein powders, pre-workouts, fat burners, vitamins and sports nutrition. Staff are highly trained in sports and general health nutrition, with some of the Nutrition Warehouse team consisting of past and present Australian and World Champion athletes.
Body Revival Personal Fitness Solutions
Focused on improving quality of life, longevity and overall well-being, Body Revival offers personal training that motivates and educates its clients. There is no screaming, no “boot camp style training” and no focus on the scales. Instead, it’s about looking and feeling great, inside and out. Services include personal training, exercise options for pre and post weight-loss surgery, rehab training, and small group training.
Which do you think are the best health and fitness businesses in Fairy Meadow? Or are there some new ones you’re now looking forward to learning more about?
To learn more about the local area and buying, selling or leasing a property, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400.
Are you or a loved one moving into aged care? Register for our free short course and learn how to right size your home when moving into aged care.
You might also be interested in
Mar 29, 2024
Top 10 restaurants we’re enjoying in Fairy Meadow
From traditional Australian dishes to international cuisine, the Fairy Meadow restaurant scene caters to all taste buds and cravings. Whether it’s Japanese, Lebanese or Australian pub fare, if you’re feeling a bit peckish take a look through the selection in your own backyard. In no particular order, let us take you around the world with some incredible flavours and cuisines that we're loving in Fairy Meadow right now. Fujiyama Teppanyaki Restaurant Love real Japanese food? The teppanyaki experience at Fujiyama includes a master chef cooking your food barbecue-style right before your eyes to create an entertaining experience. Ideal for group bookings and family outings, you’ll watch as the chefs chop, toss, marinade, slice and juggle your food in front of you. For a calmer dining experience, the downstairs or balcony areas offer Asian fusion dishes. Along with specialising in Japanese cuisine, the restaurant also offers a large selection of Chinese food for lunch and dinner. 12 Daisy St The Charles Hotel This Fairy Meadow staple features a beer garden with a huge range of beers on tap, Charlie’s Bistro with burgers and classic Australian pub food with regular specials, large Sports Bar with state-of-the-art facilities, and affordable and recently renovated accommodation by Nightcap Hotels. The bistro menu includes the freshest, locally sourced and house-made ingredients. The Charles Hotel hosts daily events, promotions and giveaways. 98 Princes Hwy Fairy Meadow Bowling Club Centred around bowling competitions, the club also entertains through a host of events, such as musical acts, raffles and trivia. Along with the entertainment, Fairy Meadow Bowling Club is also known for its bistro with a classic menu and generous serves. Menu items include seafood, steak, chicken and burgers, along with a kids menu. The venue also includes specials and seasonal event menus, like New Year’s Eve and Australia Day. 2 Cambridge Ave Fraternity Club A venue packed with dining options and entertainment, you can take your pick. Dining options include La Trattoria, featuring a cosmopolitan menu and authentic Italian flavours with large portion sizes of pastas, meat and poultry dishes, and seafood dishes. You can choose to eat indoors with a dedicated bar and room to seat 300 people or in the al fresco dining area, while the kids play in the enclosed outdoor playground. For something more special, book a two-course banquet. Alternatively, try Il Bene, which has become the home of authentic Italian wood-fired pizzas. Creating a traditional pizza restaurant atmosphere, it features hand-made pizzas using quality ingredients. 11 Bourke Street Spice Kitchen Mauritian and Thai Within an intimate setting, Spice Kitchen offers a fusion Mauritian and Thai cuisine using fresh produce with aromatic spices and herbs. Incorporating traditional cuisine from the owners’ heritage, the restaurant is renowned for surprising guests with unique dishes from its vault of recipes. Each dish has a focus on fresh ingredients from local farmers’ markets. The restaurant also caters for special events, including birthdays, business lunches, dinners and cocktail receptions. Shop 1/128 Princess Hwy Cabbage Tree Hotel Featuring classic pub fare, menu items range from schnitzel to steaks, to wings and burgers. Cabbage Tree Hotel is also renowned for what it says is “the best sports bar in country NSW”, featuring sporting events up on the big screens, meat raffles and trivia nights. The venue also offers function packages for events, including baby showers, birthdays, bridal showers, baptisms, engagements, weddings and Christmas parties. It can help arrange everything from a 2m gold window arches, floral arrangements, balloons, candy cart, light up numbers, and table decorations. 73 Princes Hwy Al Amir Lebanese restaurant An authentic Lebanese restaurant, it prides itself on offering the full flavours of classic Lebanese cuisine. The Al Amir menu includes cold and hot mezza dishes, food from the grill like kafta mishwe, mixed plates for one, banquets to feast for four or more people, salads like tabouli, and traditional mains such as Mansaf chicken and Shish Barak. Ambience Centre, Shop 6, 118-126 Princes Hwy Outback Steakhouse Part of a chain of restaurants in New South Wales and Queensland, Outback Steakhouse is renowned for its steaks and seafood. With an extensive menu, it offers appetisers, signature steaks, Outback favourites like lamb chops, pasta, combination dishes like Surf and Turf, and burgers and sandwiches. It also serves up a range of cocktails and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 228 Princes Hwy Fairy Meadow Silver Restaurant If you love Chinese food, Fairy Meadow Silver Restaurant caters for everything from honey chicken, to sweet and sour pork, and Mongolian beef. With generous meals, the restaurant also caters for children’s meals. 100 Princes Hwy Dhok Koon Thai Restaurant For authentic Thai food set within fancy decor, Dhok Koon provides a great experience and large portion sizes. Dishes range from pad thai, duck, green curry and red curry. 23-25 Princes Hwy Looking for more cafe style food? Check out the 10 best cafes in Fairy Meadow. To learn more about the area or buying, selling or leasing a property in Fairy Meadow and surrounds, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400. Do you want to know what your property is worth in the current market? Search your address for an Online Property Report.
Feb 23, 2024
Local story: Mass For You At Home TV series
Did you know Australia's longest running commercial television show Mass For You At Home is filmed right here in Fairy Meadow? The television show, which started in 1971, was moved from Melbourne to Wollongong when the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong won the tender in 2021. The 54-year-old show is filmed at the St John Vianney Co-Cathedral in Fairy Meadow four times a year over the span of a week. However, this year the show nearly didn’t go ahead. Executive producer/director Daniel Hopper shares why... Why did Mass For You At Home start? It was done out of Melbourne for 30 years prior to us. My understanding is they would film it at the Docklands Channel 10 Studio. They would film the entire year in January because, with the cadets and all the trainees, Channel 10 would use that as their training base for all their crew. They would shoot it all in three and a half weeks for the entire year. The whole purpose of it is for those that can't get to Mass - and this is way before the internet. The main audience has always been those in prison, in nursing homes and in aged care facilities - those that can't be in their parishes and can't get to church. It wasn't to replace the Mass... it was for those that couldn't be there, giving them some spiritual solace. It’s been going for 54 years now. How did the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong come to produce it? In about 2020, the crew responsible for the production handed it over to the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference, which is the ACBC - the peak body for all dioceses. That's when COVID hit. We started doing our Bishops Masses online. So when COVID hit, we couldn't go to church - we weren't allowed to during the lockdowns - so we started filming our Bishops Masses online and putting them up. We were one of the few that did pre-records instead of livestreaming it. We could do a three-camera shoot, and we could do it properly at the co-cathedral in Fairy Meadow, which is a nice church. We would do that each week. We would usually just shoot two a fortnight. Then when Melbourne said they couldn't do Mass For You At Home anymore, and they were only going to do it up until the beginning of Easter 2021. They'd seen what we'd done with the Bishops Masses and they said, "Would you consider taking this on or tendering for it?” I said, "Well, personally, it would be awesome. I can get the gang back and we get to do this, but it's a lot of work to do on top of your already full-time job”. I hadn't done broadcast TV before. It was another situation with God, saying, ‘Well, if you open this door, I'll walk through it and we'll see where it leads’. We won the tender and then we started. Our first one was on Easter Sunday 2021. How regularly do you film the episodes? We used to shoot five times a year, whereas now we do it four times a year. It takes a week for each of those. The whole thing was that if it truly is a national ministry entity, it shows around the entire country – in every regional station in Australia and every capital city. So I wanted to make sure that it's representative of that (by having priests flown from around the country). Is there a reason for the St John Vianney Co-Cathedral in Fairy Meadow? There’s a couple of things with that church – it’s aesthetically pleasing, which is why I chose that church. There's a tabernacle in the centre - so there's always a centre point of Jesus in the tabernacle. So every angle you're shooting from, you've always got that as a reference point in the background. So when you're shooting between three different cameras and you're editing, there's always a crossover and you're always in that same space. And then theologically, having Christ in the centre is always good. We bring our own lights in, but it has a lot of ambient light... so we can actually use the natural light. The carpet on the floor is better for sound. And the light-coloured background - a lot of churches there are a lot of dark woods and I didn't want that to be the face of what the church is. We want it to be welcoming. It doesn't feel closed in. It feels nice. It's welcoming. And it's reflective of what we're trying to do and what the mass is supposed to be. So the choice of that church is quite intentional. I's part of the Cathedral Parish. You’ve got this, for instance, we have the Xavier Cathedral here (St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wollongong), and that's a co-cathedral. That's very rare. There are not many co-cathedrals in Australia. Fairy Meadow is bigger. For larger events, they couldn't fit everyone in there (Xaviers), so they use that one. But it means also that it's not used all the time. If you want to book it out for a week, it's easier to do with minimal disruption to them. There's many of those days where we can do a Hollywood wrap, which means just leaving it as is, walk out, walk back in the next morning. Do you receive much feedback from viewers? Our whole funding model is on fundraising. It's not cheap to do this. We do the production on the smell of an oily rag. We rely on people... donating to us. We get a lot of feedback from letters, phone calls, comments on our socials and on YouTube. The bishop then gets a lot of letters, and he gets a lot of letters from prisoners. I get emails all the time from children saying their parents had just passed away, but they'd watched the show every single day. It was their comfort, their solace, and their last thing to do before they died. For the first years - 2021 and ‘22 - we went over our fundraising target. It was like, this is brilliant. I thought, how good are we? Then last year, with the interest rate, with the cost of living... we were behind by about $100,000 at the end of last year. Then come early December, we got a letter out of the blue - someone giving us $96,000 in their will. That meant we could do it again. The Catholic Diocese of Wollongong will now continue until its contract runs out at the end of the year, with no plans yet set for the show’s future. Mass For You At Home airs on Sunday at 6am on Channel 10 and Foxtel, and and is repeated five times daily and repeated episodes on Ten Play. To learn more about buying, selling or leasing a property in Fairy Meadow and surrounds, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400. Do you want to know what your property is worth in the current market? Search your address for a Online Property Report.