Oak Flats Pool – NSW 2529

Home of Australia’s test cricketing brothers Shane & Brett Lee My experience in the pool My first visit here coincided with the local schools swimming carnival so I wasn’t able to use the 50m Olympic Pool and had to switch to a few laps of the 25m pool. My second visit came just two days after the pool had reopened for the spring in mid-September. The 25m pool was busy with kids and a few lap swimmers so I plumped for the totally empty 50m pool. I quickly found out why it was Read more [...]

Granville Swimming Centre – NSW 2150

Once known as the ‘Wimbledon of diving in Sydney’ – even Crocodile Dundee dived here as a teenager My experience in the pool The swim is only a small part of the pleasure of Granville Pool. But since this blog is about my swimming experiences, I’d better begin with that… It was a bright, sunny spring morning. The Olympic pool was quiet so they had kept four lanes covered and just five were being used. I chose the narrowest lane which bordered the edge of the tarpaulin cover Read more [...]

Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Manly Swim Centre – NSW 2095

1920s swimmer Boy Charlton grew up in Manly so it’s apt that the pool is named after him My experience in the pool With fantastic beaches nearby and two rock pools at either end of Manly’s main beach, you might wonder why have such a massive pool complex in Manly? But this is a great asset to the community. As another swimming blogger points out (see links below), this is only one of two pools like this in the northern beaches area, and as I found out in April after Sydney’s big Read more [...]

Roselands Aquatic Centre – NSW 2196

Named after a garden centre on the site of this suburb before the shopping centre was built My experience in the pool There was a bitterly cold wind blowing on the early August afternoon I came to Roselands Pool. The water was heated, which helped, but it took me about 15 laps before I stopped feeling the goose pimples on my back as I swam freestyle up and down. The pool was very quiet on this grey, wintry afternoon. There were only two others in the pool when I began, and after I Read more [...]

Leichhardt Pool – Leichhardt, NSW 2040

Named after a 19th century Prussian explorer who disappeared! My experience in the pool I was here with fellow swimming blogger Therese, who is a regular at Leichhardt Pool so seems to know everyone round the place. Therese has also blogged about this pool regularly, so check out the links below for her take on its people and its history. There was major upgrading work going on when we turned up in late July, meaning the shallow end of the Olympic Pool was screened off (you could still Read more [...]

Ashfield Municipal Pools – NSW 2131 – CLOSED FOR RENOVATION 2018-2020

Home of 19th century tea room owner Mei Quong Tart My experience in the pool Another cold winter’s day for this swim, but with bright sunshine, it’s always a nice experience. The water was cooler than in many of those I’d swum in over the previous weeks, but I always tell myself: it’s still warmer than Ilkley Lido (unheated) at the height of summer, so if you can swim in that… For mid-morning on a working day, the pool was relatively busy and there were no lanes completely Read more [...]

Canterbury Aquatic Centre – NSW 2193

People swam in the Cooks River until this centre was built My experience in the pool It was a bit overcast for much of my swim and the air temperature was in the low teens. I guess I understand that most people chose to swim in the indoor pool next door, but I don’t really get it, coming from northern England, as I do.  I just feel that Australia has such fantastic swimming resources and they are perhaps taken for granted by many people here. Even with school holidays (yes, the kids Read more [...]

Caringbah Leisure Centre – NSW 2229

Its name is an Aboriginal word for a type of wallaby My experience in the pool Another bright, but cold winter’s morning for this swim. The board at the entrance gate claimed the water temperature at 31C. Thankfully it was nowhere near that warm. On a winter’s day, even with full sunshine, this pool is half shaded and that makes a big difference when your back is going in and out of sunshine. At this time of year, with the air temperature nearer 10C than 20C, you welcome the warm Read more [...]