Fantasy pool, Sunshine Coast, Qld



The ultimate fantasy pool, I think. By Aquatonic Pty Ltd, a Brisbane company. I don't usually show commercial firms etc on this blog but I am blown away by how beautiful this pool and its setting is.

Fun!

You can swim for exercise, competitively as a sport, for physical or emotional therapy, but lots of time swimming is great for no other reason than it's fun. Here's family and friends relaxing and enjoying ourselves on holiday at a resort at Peregian Beach in January this year.

Springboard In The Pond

The Springboard in the Pond: an intimate history of the swimming pool, by Thomas A.P. van Leeuwen, edited by Helen Searing (Masachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998). This would have to be one of my favourite books. I found it by chance in a second-hand bookshop in Melbourne. Mainly it is about the domestic swimming pool, and its prime focus is the United States. The book includes much about human attitudes towards water, as well as wonderful drawings, plans and photographs of pools. It is a meditation on the philosophy of swimming as much as anything. My favourite chapter is the first. It incudes discussion of the floating swimming pool as it emerged in Europe in rivers and lakes. Great to read in conjunction with Swimming Australia One Hundred Years, which includes information on these types of pools in Australia. Below: Vienna: Damenschwimmschule, 1831, with diving tower. (Matti-Wurm and Storch, eds. Das Bad, 1991) Below: Jacob Alt, watercolour of the Kaiserliche und Konigliche Militarschwimmschile in Vienna in 1815. (Vienna, Museum der Stadt Wien)

Fitness First Sylvania

On my day off yesterday, I went to a 'Body Balance' class at the Fitness First gym at Sylvania, and stayed for a swim. The pool is at the intersection of two very busy roads, yet can't be seen at all from outside, and the trees outside provide a restful setting on a sunlit day.

Art: David Hockney

How could you possibly go past David Hockney's California swimming pool paintings?

I love to visit the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra. As well as holding Hockney's A Bigger Grand Canyon, this work is also in its collection. It's one of my favourites. 

A diver, paper pool 17 (1978), made of twelve abutted sheets of handcoloured pressed paper pulp. 

They also have this colour lithograph - An Afternoon Swim (1980) -  printed from eight aluminium plates:

Sun On The Pool, 1982 composite polaroid, 34 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. I couldn't find who owns it or where it is located.

Robert Littman Floating In My Pool, 1982 photographic collage, 22 1/2 x 30 in.

A Bigger Splash, 1967acrylic on canvas, 96x96 in.

Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool, 1964acrylic on canvas, 36x48 in.

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures), 1972 acrylic on canvas, 84x120 in. According to Wikipedia, on 15 November 2018, in nine minutes of bidding, it was sold to an unknown buyer for $90.3 million at Christie's auction house in New York City, setting an auction record for a living artist. It has been in private ownership since it was first sold, but has been shown in various exhibitions. 

I bought this postcard of Swimming Pool Fire Island, a 1978 postcard. 

and I bought a print of his poster for the 1972 Munich Olympics: 

Here's a terrific article about Hockney's pool paintings, by Matthew Sperling in Apollo The International Art Magazine (4 Feb 2017). 'The Pull of Hockney's pool paintings' 

Wolli Creek, Sydney apartment development

Sebel Resort and Spa Hawkesbury

Clifton Suites, Northbourne Avenue, Canberra

January 2007. For a hotel pool, not too bad. Total length 25m. You ned to get there early to be able to do any laps though, especially in school holidays, when it fills up with kids. In common with most hotel pools, it also gets very choppy as the water doesn't drain smoothly like a "proper pool".

Melbourne Short Stay Apartments

A very attractive pool and outside area.
Shower and toilet area off the pool entrance (from the gym area - you can also get in from the outside)

A grey and rainy day, so a major attraction is the fact that it is enclosed.
View from the outside area.

Good for a hotel / short stay pool (although there are permanents living in the apartments as well). OK for lapping in with the usual proviso of kids and families, and it gets very choppy. Full marks for being indoor, and therefore all-weather. There's a small shower/toilet area (only one person at a time can use it) , and a gym

Fitness First, Rockdale

At 6.01 am most weekday mornings, I am the first to slip into the pool at the gym. I swim 1.5 kms, which takes about 38 minutes...(which means I won't be challenging Grant Hackett, the current short course - 25 m pool - world record holder's 14:10:10 or his long course - 50m - record at 14:34:56 any time soon!)

Some mid-winter mornings I've had the pool to myself the entire time. Now it's light at that time, a few more lappers arrive as well, though I still generally get the first few minutes to myself...I love that solitude - just me and the water.I love the silky feel of the water as I glide through it, and it's a great way to start the day. I prefer the lane second from the left (for some reason I can't explain).

I can't imagine my life without swimming. I remember teaching myself to swim at about age 4, and it's been my preferred form of physical activity for the past 45 years.



Category: Private. Gym Membership required. Can visit as guest of a member.

Medina Executive

22 -23 September 2006

I stayed here recently while organising a conference in downtown Sydney, and really enjoyed being able to unwind in the pool afterwards, and have an invigorating early morning swim. The worst part is that being a 'recreational' rather than real lap pool, conditions get pretty choppy in that tub and you can make yourself a bit 'seasick' when swimming up and down.

Really pretty setting right near Central Station, with all the traffic of Broadway/George St metres away.

Category: private. Hotel guests only. 7am- 9pm.

Istanbul, Turkey

21 May 2006. My friend's house near İstanbul

Pools between high rise, Hong Kong Island

07 May 2006

Sails In The Desert Hotel, Uluru

July 2004