At the beginning of winter we drove south to spend the weekend with friends at Trudy’s Werri Beach house. On the Saturday morning we went for a walk, bought a coffee from the man with the van near the surf club, then back home for...
As we drove to Coogee in the second week of May, Bruce asked me was there anything in particular I wanted to do while we were there. “I want to see Ivo Rowe Pool. It’s the only Coogee ocean pool I haven’t been to.”Bruce sighed. “Of course, it had to...
Autumn trees turning the hydrotherapy pool red, helping Robert, a stroke survivor put his sandals on, lime green reflections, gold glows, old men slapping the water down hard, a guy in the corner reading Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See...
When I heard the sad news that comedian John Clarke had died, and read how he loved to be in nature, to bushwalk and photograph birds, I remembered he was a swimmer too. He’d been part of the Save Fitzroy Pool campaign back in 1994 and when I dug...
Since I visited Parramatta War Memorial Pool last week and it closed forever on 31 March, I have been thinking about what was unique and special about this almost 58-year-old place. First of all it was the tiles – beautiful, late 1950s, diamond...
The sign on North Curl Curl Beach yesterday said it all: ‘Best day in weeks. Enjoy.” Finally the endless rain had stopped in Sydney, the sun was out and I was walking across the yellow sand towards the North Curl Curl Rock Pool. The only...
When I read Felicity Castagna’s book, The Incredible Here and Now, about two years ago I was inspired to visit Parramatta War Memorial Swimming Pool. In her young adult novel, she created vivid scenes of local boys, Michael and Shadi at the pool on...
“I think this is it,” I say to my sister-in-law Kay when we reach an expanse of shallow water and ochre rocks around a headland just south of Mollymook Beach. “Is this the bogey hole?” I ask a woman in an Australian flag bikini...
Just before Christmas a journalist from an online publication, Vice Australia, contacted me about a story she was doing on McIver’s Ladies Baths at Coogee. She wanted to speak to regulars about the ocean pool and get some comments on what sets...
