Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, Queensland 25 Jan 2011

Lake McKenzie is a sublime place to swim. And on the day we were there, we were the only group (14 people!). The lake is a "perched lake", meaning it is located above the water table. It is fed ONLY by rain water, and the only way water can exit is through evaporation. A layer of bonded mud, sand and vegetation (peat) called "humate" acts like a huge swimming pool liner, keeping the water inside.

Because the water is pure, swimmers are asked not to wear sunscreen or oils or use soap and shampoos when swimming. Car camping has been banned by the lake, which has cut down on the amount of litter and water contamination which previously occurred there.

The water temp was approximately 23 degrees - perfect!

Fraser Island has about 40 perched lakes.

Here are my photos of swimming in the lake previously - on 24 Jan 2001

Above: This looks to be an accumulation of oils

North Narrabeen Rock Pool 6 January 2011

Information from NSW Ocean baths website:

The distinctive boardwalk between the pools is an original feature and has been replaced many times. The decking encloses a 50-metre by 18-metre pool within a larger 70-metre by 40-metre pool, while the 60-metre by 50-metre pool reservoir acts as a wading pool.

Early 1930s : Narrabeen's rock baths built under the Unemployment Relief Scheme were one of the largest and most distinctive rock baths in the Sydney area. The timber decking was an original feature.

Early 1940s : The Northern Suburbs Women's Amateur Swimming Association formed and involved ladies swimming clubs at the Collaroy, Dee Why, Freshwater and Narrabeen ocean pools.

1960s Narrabeen Ladies Swimming Club offered free swimming lessons every Saturday and Sunday.
The winter swimming club, the North Narrabeen Shivering Sharks formed.
Aboriginal boys and girls from inland NSW who attended the annual Aboriginal Welfare Board camp at Elanora Heights were photographed swimming at the pool.

1996 : Pittwater Council asked the NSW government to help pay for storm damage to the pool. A prolonged wave attack in March had done such major damage to the pool and the decking that the pool could only be used for social swimming and not for swimming competitions or training. Council estimated $82,000 was needed to fix the decking and resurface the inside of the pool.

A seven-year-old boy playing on his bodyboard was washed out of the baths and probably drowned. His body was not found.

2000 : Narrabeen Ladies Swimming Club's Chief Instructor had been involved in the learn-to-swim program for 31 years.

2002: In March, the NSW government created an aquatic reserve from the south end of Turimetta Beach to the rockbaths at Narrabeen Head. Within the protection zone, which extends to 100 metres offshore, recreational fishing is allowed, but there are bans on taking a whole range of intertidal invertebrates including oysters, mussels, crabs and pipis.

2003 : The NSW Department of Sport and Recreation had five morning swimming lessons running at the Narrabeen Pool from January 13-23.

A committed 74-year-old winter swimmer planned to ride his motor scooter from Elanora Heights to the North Narrabeen rock pool for his 700th consecutive winter swim meet since joining the Shivering Sharks in 1967. Those 700 swims covered 32 back-to-back seasons with around 22 meets each winter.

South Curl Curl Ocean Pool

And after a swim: coffee, lunch or snack at the kiosk:

South Curl Curl is a beach north of Manly on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney. In this area, a string of ocean pools stretch from Palm Beach to Manly. See them all on the NSW Ocean Baths website. Most (not all, and not South Curl Curl) were built or expanded during the 1930s as projects to employ people during the Great Depression. Sydney is blessed with rocky headlands with rock platforms at the end of the crescent shaped beaches, and the pools are generally located on these rock platforms.

I am pretty sure they would never happen nowadays - there would be much uproar and protest at changing the natural rock platforms.

I love that these pools are free, and not fenced, are fully publicly accessible. Long may that remain! One of the last bastions of the "common good" in our bean-counting, user-pays world. (OK, I know Warringah rate payers pay...but that's a great use of local taxes - the rest of us help by supporting local businesses like cafes and shops. ..)

South Curl Curl pool (information from the website linked above):

1924: The Curl Curl Improvement Association requested that Warringah Council's engineer inspect the proposed site for a rock pool.

1925: The surf club was active in the enlargement of the rock pool to provide safer bathing. A public meeting about constructing baths led to the Curl Curl Improvement Association and South Curl Curl Life Saving Club forming a South Curl Curl Bath Committee to pressure council to enlarge the pool 'for the children' with the club raising funds for its completion via carnivals and social events at the clubhouse. A beauty pageant run by the swimming club helped to raise funds for the pool's construction.

1926: Warringah Shire Council completed construction of the baths. The outer wall of this original rock pool is now the centre wall of the present pool.

1927: The baths were formally opened.

1928: After the surf club advised it would take no further responsibility for the control of the rock baths, this role was taken over by a Council overseer.

1931: Swimming at the rock pool was part of the holiday experience of the first children accommodated at Stewart House, a facility created to provide seaside holiday accommodation for NSW schoolchildren 'from western suburbs and beyond'. (The Stewart House Prevantorium is still there: supported by public schools - students and teachers across NSW)
1935: Proposals were put forward for the enlargement of the rock pool.

Late 1930s: A wall was constructed at the rock pool, creating two pools. The outer wall of the original rock pool is the centre wall of the present pool.

1950: Toilets and a change-room were built.

Early 1960s: The Curl Curl Amateur Swimming Club formed following a meeting convened by South Curl Curl surf club. As the NSW Amateur Swimming Association did not then permit any of its affiliated clubs to have male and female members, the swimming club was officially divided into men's and women's sections. The surf club assisted the swimming club financially, and allowed to use the surf club for meetings, social functions and equipment storage.

1966: The men's and women's Amateur Swimming Clubs united to form one club and the pool was shortened to accommodate Olympic standard 50-metre races. This created a pool complex consisting of a 'stilling basin', a main pool (50 metres by 12 metres) and a wading pool (25 metres by 15 metres).

1968: Warringah Shire built the first clubhouse for the Amateur Swimming Club.

Mid-1970s: There were swimming competitions between the Amateur Swimming Club and the surf club.

Mid-1980s: The Harbord Frigid Frogs winter swimming club began to use the clubhouse building.

1990: A deck was added onto the clubhouse building to increase space available for the Frigid Frogs Club, which operates all year round.

1997: The children's pool was partly concreted, entry ramps were installed and pool walls repaired.

1999: The pool catered for a wide range of activities and for patrons of all ages and abilities. The carpark behind the beach which joins the surf club with the swimming club building and rock pool provided several disabled parking places for direct access to the pool. The elderly retired locals who habitually sunned themselves at the base of the concourse wall were affectionately known as 'the walruses'. Several high schools used the pool during weekdays in the swimming season. The wading pool was not only popular with children, it was also used as access to the surrounding rock shelf. Some locals expressed concerns about the pool being used for scuba lessons.

2002: At the 26th national winter swimming championships, the Frigid Frogs were again the strongest winter swimming club in Australia, finishing 71 points ahead of the Cronulla Polar Bears and the Maroubra Seals.

2003: On a day of gale-force winds, the police helicopter and two rescue service helicopters searched the seas after a pair of men were reported to have been pulled out to sea in heavy swells off South Curl Curl beach. It was not clear whether the men had been washed from a rock pool at the beach or had been swimming nearby when the undertow took hold of them. The search for the two men proved unsuccessful and was abandoned.



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The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainwright III

oudo

Thanks to fellow Swimming blogger, AquaMarina, I recently learned about Loudon Wainwright III's song, The Swimming Song. So, here it is.

This summer I went swimming
This summer I might have drowned
But I held my breath, I kicked my feet
Moved my arms around
I moved my arms around

This summer I swam in the ocean
And I swam in a swimming pool
Salt my wounds, chlorined my eyes
I'm a self-destructive fool
Self-destructive fool

This summer I did the back stroke
And you know that that's not all
I did the breast stroke, the butterfly
And the old Australian crawl
The old Australian crawl

This summer I swam in a public place
And a reservoir to boot
At the latter I was informal
At the former I wore my suit
I wore my swimming suit

Oh, this summer I did swan dives
And jack-knives for you all
And once when you weren't looking
I did a cannon-ball
I did a cannon-ball

This summer I went swimming
This summer I might have drowned
But I held my breath, I kicked my feet
And moved my arms around
I moved my arms around

On a day like today.....

...it's great to be here! (Bexley pool)

Bexley pool battle

Here's an issue close to my heart - the future of Bexley Pool. This is from the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader.



Hot or cold: Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley successfully fought for Bexley Pool to be kept open during winter. Picture: Renee Targett

Pool's future murky

BY MARIANNA PAPADAKIS
07 Dec, 2010 08:00 AM
THOUSANDS of Rockdale residents have called for urgent upgrades to Bexley Pool in a petition to Rockdale Council last week.
Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley who has campaigned for the past two years to have the pool upgraded, said the council had set upgrade milestones a year ago and it needed to be more ‘‘rigorous’’ so that the project did not stall.
He submitted a petition with 4416 signatures on it to Rockdale mayor Bill
Saravinovski calling for the council’s
promised work on the pool to be completed according to the recommendations of the community reference group.
This includes restoration of the 50-metre pool and construction of two new indoor pools by December next year. It also calls for year-round opening.
An independent study found the pool had reached its economic shelf life, and the cost of reconstruction plus a new indoor heated pool and therapy pool would be $10.4 million.
The council voted to commit $80,000 from the Bexley Pool redevelopment fund to investigate the feasibility of relocating the 50- metre pool to the east, depending on the location of existing sewer and stormwater pipes.
The council has already spent $120,000 on feasibility studies including on-site testing, preparation of initial designs, and costings.
A report will come back to council in February on the outcome of these investigations and the possibility of including the project in the 2011-12 operational plan.
Independent councillors Liz Barlow and Yvonne Bellamy raised concerns about the expense of outsourcing further investigations.
Rockdale Council director of city planning and development, Stephen Kerr, said the investigations would require both in-house resources and skills plus outside consultants.
Concept designs and costings for a relocated 50-metre pool and an indoor heated 25-metre pool and program therapy pool (to where the existing amenities and office building are now) would be investigated jointly by the council and consultants, he said.
Mr Hanna said the feasibility studies and designs were delivered six months late, and that any proposal to demolish the existing amenities and office building — which had a $824,240 upgrade only eight years ago — would not please ratepayers.

More articles:

Testing waters at Bexley Pool - 11 Dec 2009
Passion for their pool - 11 Sep 2009

Sans Souci Leisure Centre

When I was at school we used to come here for school sport. Of course it was a "pool" then, but now it's a "leisure centre" with indoor learning pool, weights room, cardio room and a cafe with an espresso machine (thank god!) thought I'd pay a revisit today on a gorgeous sunny day to do some laps.

The old entrance:



The old changing rooms and kiosk:

The new entrance is from the park: