Down among the gum trees at West Pymble Pool

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As I crawled up the Pacific Highway on Saturday morning, I wondered if I was going to make it to the West Pymble Pool. But after Chatswood the traffic began to flow and it wasn’t long before I reached Gordon where my friend Margie B was waiting for me.

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For more than a year Marg and I had been talking about going for a swim at the West Pymble Pool and finally on a drizzly, overcast day we made it.

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When we got out of the car it was raining quite hard and we contemplated swimming in one of the indoor pools.

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But when we walked past the 50-metre we knew we wanted to swim in the open air.

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Re-named the Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre after it was redeveloped two years ago, the new complex has a decidedly green theme from the cafe to …

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The change rooms

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On the tiles around the indoor pools

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And on the outdoor deck area.

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But in the big pool the colour scheme is largely blue with a strip of patterned tiles along the edge.

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When we entered the pool the water was a perfect temperature at 26 degrees and we felt much warmer in than out. Both of us had a lane to ourselves and it was lovely swimming up and down with the gum trees all around.

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When the sun appeared I thought about getting out to put sunscreen on but a minute later it disappeared behind a cloud.

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As we took selfies to remember my inaugural West Pymble Pool swim Marg told me how she used to bring her kids here after school, and how the old centre didn’t include the gym and indoor pools.

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The original West Pymble Pool had a 50-metre and medium-sized children’s pool. It opened in 1971 and at that stage was the only public pool in the Ku-ring-gai Municipality, a bit like the Greengate Hotel at Killara seemed to be the only pub ‘up the line’ back in the late 1970s.

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After a hot shower we decided to give the cafe a miss and instead returned to Gordon for lunch at the rustic Pottery Green Bakers. Marg’s rice paper rolls and my avocado, smoked salmon, poached eggs with hollandaise were delicious ways to complete our very enjoyable swim.

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The Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre is on Prince of Wales Drive, West Pymble next to Bicentennial Park.  It includes two outdoor pools,  a 50-metre and smaller children’s pool, three indoor pools, a gym and cafe.

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6 comments
  • So happy to have the emails from Swimming pool stories flying into my inbox again. It looks as though your happy swim brightened a greyish sort of day. What a huge empty pool!

    • Yes it is Jen. I have had an ongoing problem of updates not being emailed to subscribers. It has been very frustrating but hopefully we have solved it now! It was lovely at West Pymble Pool or I should say Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre as it is now called. The indoor pools were busy but only about six or seven in the outdoor one but as far as we were concerned it was the best place to be as there’s nothing like swimming in the open air!

  • Good to be back in touch with Swimming Pool Stories! Very absorbing and makes me want to jump in!
    It was a glorious Saturday Rese – the weather was definitely on our side as the sun shone on our virtually empty lanes – positively luxurious – free smiles and no expense was spared on hair and make-up!!
    Thanks for trekking up to the wilds of WPP!

    • Thank you Marg – was great having a dip with you at the lovely West Pymble Pool! You have now featured in two posts – remember our other lovely swim at McIver’s Ladies Baths at Coogee. Where to next for us? We can take another selfie with no expense spared on the hair and make-up!!

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