Pool

Pool (that's the name of a resort), Port Douglas.

Forget swim-up bars, it's swim-up apartments now!

I'm not in Sydney...

....but where am I?


I'm attending a conference in Cairns in tropical north Queensland. Cairns is the "gateway" to the Great Barrier Reef. It's situated on Trinity Bay, part of the Coral Sea. There's no beach to speak of, as the "beachfront" is a tidal mudflat - not what tourists are generally looking for! (though apparently it was orginally a sandy beach, but dredging the shipping channel covered the sand with mud. Cairns has traditionally been seen as a convenient base for trips into World Heritage Rainforest and the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.

In recent times, the Esplanade area has been completely made over, and as well as boardwalks, kids' playgrounds, large swathes of grass and shade trees, barbecues, there is this massive free swimming lagoon, complete with sand beach. It covers 4 hecctares, and is open daily between 6am and 10pm, and patrolled by security guards outside those times to prevent damage.

The water in the lagoon is sea water, but cleaned and filtered every few hours. No marine 'stingers' can enter the water, so it's safe for swimming all year round (you don't go in coastal water in northern Qld between November and April unless wearing a "stinger suit" to protect against deadly jellyfish). And the beaches and estuaries are crocodile territory as well.

So far I've swum here both days we've been here.

For a whole heap of my pictures of the Cairns lagoon, click here.

Swimming Under The Bridge

I think this pool says a lot about the place of swimming in the Australian psyche. Here is it, right under Sydney Harbour Bridge, next door neighbour to Luna Park. I can't think of another place in the world where a swimming pool occupies such a prime piece of real estate. Maybe Monaco, which I will see shortly, thanks to Jilly! And not only is there no question of its continued survival, in 2001 a redevelopment was completed, feturing a new indoor 25m pool , splash pool, child care facilities, a renovated cafe and restaurant, gymnasium, picnic areas, solar heating and hot water heat pumps.

The pool was originally built in 1936 on a site where much of the construction work for the Sydney Harbour Bridge had been carried out. The Bridge opened in 1932. 86 world records have been set at the pool by such swimming greats as Dawn Fraser, Jon and Ilsa Konrads, Murray Rose, Lorraine Crapp, Frank O'Neill, Judy Joy Davies, John Devitt, Shane Gould and Michelle Ford.

I also keep a Swimming Blog, because I love swimming. I was delighted to see another swimmer share his love in this weekend's This Life contributor column in The Weekend Australian newspaper. Rick Kane, I don't know who you are, but you captured my thoughts beautifully. The only differences are that I usually DO score a lane to myself, as I use a gym, and the bulk of people are into the sweaty, running shoes stuff; I swim 60 laps about 4 times a week (80 if I'm on holidays); and my magic number is 23 - the lap when, having let the mind go blank other than the repetitive mantra of lap-counting, most of the world's problems and complex work-related issues are solved. Swimming to me is meditation, transcendence, sensuality (the water feels like a silk scarf running over my body).

Here's Rick Kane's piece entitled This (Lapping) Life from the The Weekend Australian May 17-18 2008:
"Swimming laps is all about numbers. For starters, I’m 44 and I go swimming at 6am (ouch). The first time I ventured to the pool (I mean leisure centre) at that early hour, I thought I would be bothering the guy who had drawn the short straw to open up.
I imagined a pot-bellied, sleepy-eyed grump wheezing on a fag, clutching a coffee, mumbling something like, “Mate, give us a sec, I’ll crank up the generators and then she’ll be right.” I was wrong.
At 6am your local leisure centre is going off. People turn up in droves. There’s a queue t. In June, with temperatures hovering at 5C, there may be 40 or more people of all ages (well, over 35), queuing to get in there and get on a walking machine, or spin cycle or bench press, or whatever it is you do for exercise. In my case, it’s to go swimming.
I love swimming. You’ve got to love an activity that has a stroke called butterfly that involves the most ungainly actions. There are five lanes allocated for laps. Every swimmer hopes for a lane to themselves and every swimmer is disappointed. I swim 2km, three times a week. As I swim in a 25m pool, I swim 80 laps ach session, but who’s counting? I am.
My convoluted counting process involves calling ach lap a quarter (as in time: 1:15, 1:30, 1:45, lap 2, and so on). And, yes, I’ve even counted the amount of strokes it takes for each lap (about 40), swimming laps is taxing, invigorating and fun. It is also as boring as watching someone who is boring.
The repetition may suggest a mundane activity, but for me swimming is pretty close to transcendence. Gliding through cool water can free the body and has the potential to free the mind. While swimming laps, I try not so much to solve everyday problems but move through them. Counting laps maintains a rhythm (as does the stroke), but water is the melody, allowing you to free-form freestyle. Everything else is of little moment.
The light at that time of day, just as the sun is rising, is striking. It produces hazy shades ad textures across the pool. Underwater, where a swimmer is mainly looking, these shades reflect patterns and beats across the tiles that move and distort as the swimmer pushes through the water.
And away the mind goes, maybe to a daughter’s smile, having been told her class project is excellent, or the scent of a bakery from a half-forgotten holiday, or to the woman swimming laps in the next lane. Swimming gives you space to open up the value of a reflection. It is the languorous dance of the solitary. Swimming is sensual and water a sweeping beauty.
I push myself. But I have terrible rhythm and I swear it is the reason I can’t push myself harder. There is, well, um, another reason for not pushing myself harder. Hey, I put in a lot of effort swimming 2km, or, wait for it, 3200 freestyle arm strokes. I swim non-stop. When I finish, I’m huffing and puffing. But then I go to wipe sweat from my brow and all I’m wiping is excess chlorinated water.
For all the effort Thorpie and I exert, there is no freakin’ sweat to show the world that we work damn hard. That just doesn’t add up. Still, I keep at it, with the numinous thoughts and the numbers swimming around in my head. "



Below: the 2001 indoor pool, sitting up the hill above the existing outdoor 50m pool.

Melbourne City Baths

I'm in Melbourne for a meeting, and taking the opportunity to visit a frend for the weekend. Yesterday I swam out the crinkles at the historical Melbourne City Baths. It was fabulous; I've been wanting to swim here for a long time. The pool is 30m in length, which is fairly unusual - they are more commonly 50m or 25m.

These beautiful Edwardian Baths started off as public baths (for washing) and urinals. After dereliction, and closure in 1899 they were re-designed and re-opened, to include two swimming pools, in March 1904. Men and women had separate entrances (the signs are still seen on the facade), and there were first class baths upstairs, and second class in the basement.There were also Turkish and vapour baths, a Jewish ceremonial bath - Mikvah bath and a laundry.Mixed bathing was introduced in 1947.In the 1980s, in disrepair, they were nearly closed, but were saved in 1983 by a public campaign and $4 million refurbishment.

My mum (now aged 79) tells me that when she was a young, single woman, workign in the city in the late 1940s/early 1950s, she used sometimes to use the washing facilities here after work, to freshen up beofre going out with a young man or friends.

Sydney from Cremorne (MacCallum Pool)

Ive posted previously about the free MacCallum pool - here - and how it was begun by a local, early Olympic swimmer Fred Lane . But on this day, it was the view across to the city skyline- Sydney Tower, Opera House, Harbour bridge was as pretty as a picture :-)

Last swim for this summer?

I can't describe how beautiful today is - a tiny breeze, air temperature about 26 (no Adelaide like heatwave), not too humid, fresh-smelling, sea temperature about 22-24. Just a little "bracing" as you slowly immerse yourself, but as we say in our house BOYGI - "boy-gee" - Beautiful Once You get In.

This morning my son and I headed down to Oak Park at Cronulla for a swim. That's him with his towel around his neck - he's just washed off his thongs. That's a beginner's scuba diving class in the middle ground just outside the rock pool, and Bundeena and the Royal National Park across Port Hacking in the background.

Temperatures are predicted to fall for Easter, though sea swimming is usually pretty good in Sydney up until mid-April.

For more pictures of Oak Park, taken in January, click here.

Seven Shillings Beach, Point Piper

I acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. Along this shore, now mostly destroyed, or, apparently, hidden from view, boarded up under the foundations of the houses are Aboriginal stone engravings and carvings.

There are several stories as to how this harbourside beach in the exclusive suburb of Point Piper got its name:
1. Named as such when a Mrs Busby gave an Aboriginal seven shillings compensation for fishing rights, or for a catch of fish;
2. A nurse, employed by Captain Piper, lost a purse containing 'seven shillings' on the beach.

Seven Shillings Beach is not one of Sydney's most beautiful, but it is certainly one of its most disputed. Private bbeaches are not meant to exist in Australia, or so we like to believe. However, some of the country's most well-heeled live in this little enclave (ghetto?) of Sydney and don't take too kindly to people who are not "us" gaining access.

Walking volunteer, Graham Spindler (2007 ) *explains that restrictions limit access to "below mean high water mark during daylight hours", as he calls it "a classic piece of legal compromise".

Spindler continues wryly: "...the beach remains privately owned, although glances across into the private realms are permitted (or inevitable), some of the backyards having long been owned by the fairfax family."

Point Piper
Now here's a classic Sydney story of wealth, harbour views, a beyond-their-means lifestyle, and corruption. But there wasn't an ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) 180 years ago!

Graham Spindler again: " Point Piper's European history began as part of a 76ha land grant by Governor Macquarie to Captain John Piper in 1820. Piper had had control of customs and all harbour matters, a lucrative position which enabled him to vastly increase the size of his land holding and build the finest house then in Sydney on the point. He named it Henrietta Villa, after the second name of Gov Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth, and it quickly became the most prestigious social venue in town. However, the flamboyant and extravagant lifestyle exceeeded even his resources and he was soon deeply in debt. In 1827 it became apparent that he had embezzled 13 000 pounds from the customs revenues which together with other debts amounted to millions in modern value. The mortified Piper made a curiously grand suicide attempt, having himself rowed out into the harbour, and to the strains of his naval band, jumping overboard. He survived to retire to a more modest rural life." (near Bathurst) More here.
More about Captain Piper (and below, a portrait)

* Thanks Graham, with whom I trained as a school teacher-librarian in 1981!

Redleaf Pool, Double Bay

A lovely harbour pool at the end of Seven Shillings Beach. Foot access only, down the stairs behind the Woollahra Council Offices on New South Head Road.

The small island is Clark Island. It's part of Sydney Harbour National Park. It can only be accessed by private vessel. You can book it for weddings and other functions. In 1789, Lieutenant Ralph Clark, a marine on the First Fleet, tried to cultivate a vegetable garden on this one hectare island. He abandoned the idea when his crops were repeatedly stolen.

There's more pictures of Redleaf pool here on my "Swimming" blog.

Err....

Not a good idea, mate!

Swimming can include everyone

Still at Cronulla. Another of the rock pools - there are about four along this short stretch of coast. Behind me is a large, shady, green park where lots of families were having picnics and barbecues and playing games from cricket to soccer.

Swimming and learning to swim is such an important part of Australian life and culture than many traditional Muslim women are taking part by wearing a "burquini" - designed by an Australian, Ahead Zanetti. You can see a woman in this photo wearing one. They have been adopted by the Surf Life Saving Association for Muslim women members - see article here

Here's an article about Mecca Laa Laa on patrol at North Cronulla beach. (My sister taught Mecca).

Personally, I love to feel the water on my skin and would feel too restricted, but, hey, if it helps some young women learn to swim, interact with their children in the water, and feel comfortable and culturally included, more power to them.

There's lots more pictures of Shelly beach, here on my "Swimming" blog.

Lots of fun

The rock pool at Oak Park, South Cronulla. A great way to spend the Australia day public holiday.

There's a lot more photos from Oak Park rock pool here on my "Swimming" blog.

Homebush Aquatic Centre

The leisure pools

Happy 14th Birthday to Ben - of swimming and the Oz psyche

We were going to go to the water fun park at Jamberoo, with Ben and three of his mates. Unfortunately the weather turned foul - cold, gusty, and constant rain. Not great for an outdoor water play venue. Thishappened once before, on about his 10th birthday. We're doomed.

So instead we went to Homebush Aquatic Centre at Olympic Park. This is where Ian Thorpe, Susie O'Neill and others won all those medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. It's a terrific facility: 7wo 50m pools, one 8 lane, one 10 lane, diving pool, and freeform play pools with rapid river run, water slide etc.

There's also has gym and fitness centre, sauna, steam room, spa pools. There's swimming classes, training squads, all day lap swimming, cafes. You can book childminding, hosted kids' birthday parties, massage and a triathlon club.

I don't think people from outside Australia realise how deeply public swimming facilities penetrate the Australian psyche. To use this facility it cost us $28.80 for 3 adults and 4 kids for all day. I've paid more than that for one person for a single session at a European pool. Trying to find somewhere in Rome or new York for a swim is a bit of a challenge! We get a bit purse-lipped if pool entry gets anything beyond about $5-$6 in an indoor heated centre, $3-4 outdoors. Generally swimming pools are one of the community facilities, along with libraries, parks etc which local government maintains (they are NOT however responsible for education - that's a state government level responsibility).

More pictures of Homebush - click here.

MacCallum Pool, Cremorne

A free pool on Sydney Harbour at Cremorne. It started out as a rock pool, built of local rocks, and started by an early Olympic swimmer, Fred Lane, who lived nearby. It then got taken on by Hugh MacCallum, a highly regarded local resident. In 1930 it was taken over by North Sydney Council, and renamed the Hugh J MacCallum Pool (later shortened to MacCallum Poool) . It is still maintained by North Sydney Council. It needs to be emptied, refilled and cleaned about once a week.

Not a bad view:

For more pictures visit my swimming pools blog.

On the Beach

Time for summer holidays!

Como

“Como”, said the station sign. And they ran on bridges over two arms of water from the sea, and they saw what looked like a long lake with wooded shores and bungalows: a bit like Lake Como, but oh, so unlike. That curious sombreness of Australia, the sense of oldness, with the forms all worn down low and blunt, squat. The squat–seeming earth. "

- DH Lawrence, Kangaroo, 1923.

Yesterday I saw a wonderful new play, called Toy Symphony, by Australian playwright, Michael Gow. Gow grew up in southern Sydney at Como, which was indeed named after Lake Como in northern Italy. As the play was based in parts on Gow's life, we travelled to Como in several scenes of the play.

So, today, we did something I've been meaning to do for a long time - we hopped on the train and travelled the 25 minutes from our place to Como and had breakfast at the Como Marina Cafe. Then we wandered around, and walked across the old railway bridge. It's now a footbridge and cycleway, joining Oatley and Como, across the Georges River.
The railway bridge was completed in 1885

Below: Photo of railway bridge taken by Robert Hunt, 1885. Macleay Museum, Sydney.

Above: Cafe, marina and pool, taken from the bridge

After all that strenuous exercise, I cooled off with a dip in the free pool.

More pool pics here.

The Archaeology of Bathing, Woolloomooloo Bay

"This artwork by Robyn Bracken traces elements of former ladies baths at Woolloomooloo. A floating jetty and marine piles mark tidal change, the stair cage and portal frame reflect on the enclosed spaces associated with early bathing machines. "(City of Sydney Archives, CRS 904/C006). It is one of many sculptures found along the Sydney Sculpture Walk.

There have been baths at Woolloomooloo Bay since the 1820s. For a history of swimming baths in this part of Sydney Harbour, you can't beat this entry on the City of Sydney website.

Nowadays, the Andrew Boy Charlton pool is a very popular pool. I have blogged about it on my Swimming Pools Blog : here when the Queen Mary was visiting, and here.

Ramsgate Baths

At Ramsgate Baths, a remnant of the last surviving timber pool enclosure within the Botany Bay/Georges River area. Its construction technique and use of materials is unique within the Sydney region. Such enclosures are built along the bay to provide safe swimming free of the threat of shark attack. Sharks are numerous within the bay.

Swimming enclosure, Brooklyn

Brooklyn is possibly the northerly most suburb of Sydney, on the southern shore of the Hawkesbury River. A great place for a picnic, a dig in the sand, or a swim, or to hire a houseboat for a time. You can get there by suburban train from central Sydney in 55 minutes.

No Diving or Jumping

Tomorrow, I'll show you where not to dive or jump.