All posts by Simon Duffin

Born in Yorkshire, now living on the beautiful south coast of NSW. Have lived and worked in eight different countries over the years and swum in nearly all of them. Now in Australia, I want this website to reflect a new life, where swimming takes centre stage and there's a pool in nearly every small community.

Murray Rose Pool – formerly Redleaf Pool, Double Bay 2028

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Named after a gold medallist who learned to swim here as a toddler My experience in the pool The best thing about swimming at Murray Rose Pool in Double Bay (formerly Redleaf Pool) is surely its setting right on Sydney harbour. Just beyond the shark netting perimeter of the pool there's a sprinkling of yachts anchored in the bay; beyond that a handful of boats are out in the harbour with sails unfurled, and if you time your glance out to the horizon, you may spot the Manly Ferry drifting Read more [...]

Drummoyne Olympic Pool – Drummoyne, NSW 2047

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Known by many as ‘Crummy Drummy’, but I like the place My experience in the pool Ok, staring at Iron Cove Bridge as you do your backstroke laps at Drummoyne Olympic Pool is not quite the same as North Sydney with its Harbour Bridge views, but I liked Drummoyne Pool and didn’t find it at all ‘crummy’. According to the excellent history of the pool I found on the Drummoyne Swimming Club’s website, the name ‘crummy drummy’ dates back at least to 1950, when a 14 year old Read more [...]

Collaroy Rock Pool – Collaroy, NSW 2097

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Named after a ship that ran aground here in 1881 My experience in the pool By arriving here on a hot Friday morning towards midday when schools are soon to finish for the summer, I learned a couple of things at Collaroy Rock Pool. First thing was just how hot the concrete next to a pool can become in the midday sun, so should have brought my pool shoes, but for a completely different reason to normal. Second thing is that Australian school classes at this time of year on a Friday are Read more [...]

Malabar Rock Pool – Malabar, NSW 2036

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Named after a ship that ran aground in 1931 My experience in the pool As you walk along the southern edge of Long Bay to get to Malabar Rock Pool you first pass signposts warning of snakes being seen in the area and then a ‘pool wildlife’ board with images of various marine life from tiddlers to stingrays via Port Jackson Sharks (don’t worry, these are not lethal and don’t get bigger than about 1.5m long, though thankfully there were none in the pool when I got in). Actually, Read more [...]

Nowra Aquatic Centre – Nowra, NSW 2540

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A real 21st century swimming pool My experience in the pool Nowra’s new state-of-the-art aquatic centre only opened its doors in October 2015 after being closed for complete overhaul for two years. This really feels like the future of outdoor swimming pools, with fun facilities like the kiddies’ splash-about area with lots of water spouts and stairs to climb plus the soon-to-be-opened water slide, which should be fun for adults and kids alike. For me, it was a chance to return to Read more [...]

Shelly Beach Rock Pool – NSW 2230

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Home of the Brass Monkeys My experience in the pool I don’t normally swim on cloudy days while I’m blogging, not because I have some aversion to cloud cover – I’m used to it being from East Yorkshire, and it’s probably safer here in Australia - but because ocean pools really are only at their best with blue skies, blue water and a sprinkling of white from the surf. There was none of those at Shelly Beach Rock Pool when I pitched up on an early December morning, but that clearly Read more [...]

Warilla Olympic Pool – Warilla, NSW 2528

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Only open 5 months of the year My experience in the pool I first swam here before I knew that this blog would end up covering freshwater outdoor pools as well as ocean pools. That was towards the end of the ‘season’ – Warilla Pool closes for seven months of the year. But I needed to come back to review the place, and I jumped at the opportunity when I got a message from fellow swim blogger – Kenton who writes 1000pools.com – to say he’d be down in Warilla and did I want to join Read more [...]

Oak Park Rock Pool at Glaisher Point – NSW 2230

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Area known locally as ‘Sandshoes’ My experience in the pool The swim at Oak Park Rock Pool was a bit of a spontaneous act on our way home after aborting a planned dip in a beach up the Central Coast. It had been too grey and miserable those few miles further north and it made me realise how important sun and blue sky (and water) is to making these pools irresistible. By the time we were swinging by Cronulla heading south, the sun was out, so we just said to each other: ‘shall we?’, Read more [...]

Albion Park Pool – Albion Park, NSW 2527

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Only open 5 months of the year My experience in the pool I arrived mid-morning on a sunny day in mid-November. There was only one lane set up for lap swimmers and one lady in there already. But lots of schoolkids were being herded about the premises so I knew something was up. Actually unlike on those school carnival days in January/February, when the public really can’t get into the water, the swimming lessons and tests for young schoolkids worked well with a couple of lap swimmers Read more [...]

Ocean Pools calendar & other connections

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The best thing about the ABC Open story that ran on the ABC News website was actually not the spike in hits to this website, but the contact I gained from fellow swimming lovers along the way. Best of all was to hear from Mary O'Connell, a writer and historian who also loves the ocean pools of Sydney, and has produced a fantastic calendar for 2016. It's a great piece of work, not only for the photos but also the useful practical information and the background stories to the twelve Sydney Read more [...]