Tag Archives: outdoor pool

Blacktown Aquatic Centre – Blacktown, NSW 2148

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Blacktown's name has its origins in the Stolen Generation as there was a 'Native Institution' here in the 19th century. My experience in the pool Blacktown Aquatic Centre has one of those outdoor swimming pools that look so tempting when you speed past in the train. When I spotted it over the tracks, it looked pristine, with sky blue tiles looking magnificent in the sunshine, and seemingly hardly anyone in it. It proved a bit harder to get an actual swim in Blacktown! My first Read more [...]

Enfield Aquatic Centre – Enfield, NSW 2136

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Sydney's first freshwater Olympic Pool. My experience in the pool My first lap of Enfield Aquatic Centre's Olympic pool was an absolute delight. It began simply enough, in fairly shallow water for maybe the first 30 metres or so, but then dips away dramatically to form the 5m deep diving area - or rather what was the diving area till they removed the diving board! I love swimming in such deep pools and Enfield must have been a fantastic place when they hosted the national diving championships Read more [...]

Albury Swimming Centre – Albury, NSW 2640

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Wikipedia reckons Albury was named after a village in Kent, but there is only an Albury near Guildford in Surrey! My experience in the pool Albury Swim Centre had a lucky escape in October 2016, just a month earlier than my own visit to the place. It sits right by the Murray River on the NSW/Victoria border and floodwaters crept perilously close to the centre when the river burst its banks a few weeks ago (see the link to the video looking over the area and see the pool sitting just above Read more [...]

Gough Whitlam Leisure Centre – Liverpool, NSW 2170

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Named after the former Australian Prime Minister who was MP for a nearby area. My experience in the pool I first dropped by the Gough Whitlam Leisure Centre pools in Liverpool on a sunny morning in winter when I was desperately trying to find an outdoor pool open and was quickly discovering that in the winter months, you really have to shop around to get an outdoor swim in Sydney, even though the sun may shine and the air temperature may be up in the high teens. Don't waste your time trying Read more [...]

Queanbeyan Aquatic Centre – Queanbeyan, NSW 2620

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Queanbeyan got its name from an Aboriginal word for 'clear waters'. My experience in the pool Queanbeyan Aquatic Centre was really buzzing on the sunny Saturday morning we turned up in mid-October. The car park was nearly full, making us wonder if there’d even be a free lane in the outdoor pool here or whether we’d have to share our lanes. We needn’t have worried, though. It was the indoor pool that had the heaving mass of bodies in it, as the Nippers and the parents filled the Read more [...]

Hawkesbury Oasis Aquatic Centre – South Windsor, NSW 2756

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My experience in the pool The outdoor Olympic Pool at Hawkesbury Oasis Aquatic Centre in South Windsor only opened for the season last weekend, so the guy in the changing room before I got into the water itself warned me it was a bit chilly, but at 25C it was more than enough for me and certainly warmer than my swim last week! It was a perfect day for a swim, in bright sunshine but at that time of year when the sun still isn't at its burning height of intensity. And in this pool, you'd Read more [...]

Guildford Swimming Centre – Guildford, NSW 2161

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Named after the Earl of Guilford, though he never had a second 'd' in his name... My experience in the pool Guildford Swimming Centre's outdoor pool is not the kind of place you're likely to find Australia's next generation of Olympic champions working out. It's a bit of a miniature pool, being about half the size of your typical Aussie outdoor pool at 25m in length, with only 4 lanes and barely reaching 1.5m at its deepest point. I liked it though. Not least, because of the magnificent Read more [...]