2015 | Swimming Pool Stories

Boxing Day dip in the briney at the Woolwich tidal baths

With the tide almost reaching the two metre mark, yesterday Bruce and I and my sister and her kids went for a swim at Woolwich Baths. The simple baths on the Lane Cove River used to be known as ‘Mooney’s mud hole’ after the chap who lived behind the ticket booth and shop (no longer there) in a large canvas tent with wooden floor.

In the 1950s and 60s Mr Mooney looked after the pool and taught some of the locals to swim among the jelly blubbers and occasional blue swimmer crabs. For my sister and I, products of Northbridge Baths, another Sydney harbour pool, swimming in the high tide, salt water was bliss, and Bruce, Will, Rosie and Mary thought it was pretty good too!

Dec 27 2015

Sunday morning at Wylie’s

Dec 20 2015

A dip in the crystal clear water at Wylie’s Baths was a great way to cool off on a warm Sydney Sunday today. The lane ropes were up for the Coogee Diggers Swimming Club races but there was still room to do a few slow laps and spot a fish or two in the underwater[…]

Oct 20 2015

Every January when my family holidayed on the NSW north or south coast we didn’t travel far enough to stop overnight so we never got the chance to stay in a motel, like the El Dorado at Surfers Paradise where my parents spent their honeymoon. That is, until 1975, when for the first time we[…]

Sep 01 2015

When I heard on Sunday that author and neurologist Oliver Sacks had died, I rummaged through my files for a letter I’d received from him more than 15 years ago. At the time I was writing a story about my love of swimming and had contacted him via his publisher when I discovered he had a[…]

Aug 18 2015

On the 23rd anniversary of my mother’s death I’d like to pay tribute to her for passing on the swimming gene to my sister and brother and me. Mum’s love of water started on Maroubra Beach where her father Austin swam every morning before work and where he taught her to body surf. When the seas[…]

Jul 06 2015

Recently we spent three weeks in Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine and Litchfield National Park where we swam in some amazing water holes, wave pools, hot springs and lap pools. When we returned I wrote about these fabulous swimming spots in a story published in The Weekend Australian last Saturday, 4 July. You can read the story,[…]

May 19 2015

There’s no swimmers around when I arrive at Parsley Bay, just trim women jogging with their mobiles and doing boxing in the park. But when I walk around the path that leads to the deep end of the bay, I spot a man in blue trunks, or rather he spots me. “If you want a[…]

Apr 15 2015

Enfield Pool (1933), Petersham Inn (1930s), Petersham Town Hall (1938) and North Sydney Olympic Pool (1936) were all designed by architects’ Rudder and Grout.

Mar 31 2015

“Last day,” says Peter when I join him in the water at the Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre, aka Petersham Pool. “Are you going to miss it?” “Yes,” says Peter, who swims every morning and talks to everyone who comes to the pool. “Look at it, it’s beautiful,” he says, as he pushes under the water and[…]

Jan 27 2015

Last week when I paused at the end of a lap, I noticed three of the morning regulars scanning the pool for a spot. There were swimming lessons in lanes one and two with children pushing and gliding or doing torpedoes as it’s called today and learning to breathe in and bubble out. The rest[…]

Archive - 2015

Boxing Day dip in the briney at the Woolwich tidal baths

Sunday morning at Wylie’s

Fruit compotes, coco pops and 1970s motel pools

Celebrating the rich aquatic life of author Oliver Sacks

Giving thanks for the gift of swimming

Sensational swimming in Northern Territory’s Top End

A pair of Williams, a man called Max and Parsley the hermit down Vaucluse way

A pub, a town hall and a pool or two: 1930s designs by Rudder & Grout

Swimming with Peter, the porpoise of Petersham Pool

The end of summer holidays at Petersham Pool