Lake Marian

Fiordland, South Island, New Zealand

Just been over in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, touring, walking and managing to have the occasional swim. One of my favourite swims was in Lake Marian. It's in a gorgeous setting in a glacially-formed, hanging valley surrounded by the Darren Mountains.

We had a three hour walk to get there and back. The track crossed the Hollyford River on a swing-bridge, followed Marian Creek past an incredible series of waterfalls, then made a steep ascent through thick silver beech rainforest until it reached the perched valley above the tree line. Lake Marian was very full from snow melt, and the track, which circuits the lake, was under water.

The water was clear and blue and very, very cold. I swam for a maximum of five minutes, including a duck dive that made my head ache.

Heathcote National Park

Sydney is surrounded by National Parks. These are mostly on rugged sandstone ranges cut by creeks and rivers. They have a distinct vegetation, and are usually covered in dense bushland. Many are accessible by Cityrail train. Often you can walk into the park from one railway station and walk out at another station.

One of my favourite National Parks is Heathcote. I usually manage to go down there a couple of times a year to bushwalk and swim. I get the train to Waterfall station, walk about ten kilometres, and catch the train home from Heathcote station.

Swimming in the creeks and rivers in the park is one of my favourite activities.

Swimming hole on Heathcote Creek

There are many pools along the creeks and rivers, all of which are great for swimming in. The one in the photo above is just off the Bullawarring walking track. This is usually where I have my first swim of the walk. The dark colour of the water is due to staining from all the submerged eucalyptus leaves.

Kingfisher Pool

Taken from a rock ledge several metres above the pool. When there's been plenty of rain, there is a waterfall tumbling down from this ledge. It's fun both to walk behind it or to swim beneath it. Kingfisher Pool is a popular swimming hole, though I was here on my own this morning. The water was very warm today, and I spent a long time just floating on my back looking up at the cliffs and the tall gum trees.

Off the track

This is my favourite swimming holes. It is quite some way off the walking track, but well worth the scramble down the gully, through the bush. I found it by accident about four years ago. I was walking along a ridge, when I noticed a cairn just off the track. I guessed that it was a marker for a swimming hole. As I descended to the creek, I made small cairns of my own , so that I could more easily find my way back to the track. I've added to the cairns over the last few years, and now have no problem finding the pool. There are some deep holes here that are lovely and cool even in summer.

Lake Eckersley looking North

Lake Eckersley looking South

Lake Eckersley is a huge waterhole on the Woronora River. You can swim a long way up and down the lake, and it's so deep that you don't have to worry about scraping your knees on submerged rocks or tree branches. Worrying about eels is another matter. I swam my inelegant front crawl up and down the lake a couple of times. I met some young people here who told me all about a swimming hole I'd never been to before. I was keen to swim there later in the day.

Pool above Mirang Pool

Rocks leading down to Mirang Pool

Mirang Pool is another popular swimming hole, but I usually climb upstream to a smaller pool to swim. It's in the shade for much of the day, so it's usually cooler than Mirang. When theres been a bit of rain, the rocks leading down to Mirang have a series of cascades. At some places, you can lie with your head underneath a strong cascade. Also there are lots of potholes in these rocks, and some become natural jacuzzis when the water is flowing strongly.

"Rovers" pool

Rocks to jump off

The young people I met at Lake Eckersley directed me to this waterhole. They called it "Rovers Pool", and they told me that they enjoyed jumping from the rocks into some very deep water. I had yet another long swim here, then jumped off the rocks a couple of times for good measure. They were right - it is very deep indeed.

Another Day At Bent's Basin

There's dangerous surf at all the beaches, so freshwater swimming holes are probably the place to be. There's also been a change in the weather, with temperatures dropping down to the low twenties and a cool southerly wind blowing. The water at Bent's Basin, however, is still very pleasant.

I love swimming right around the perimeter of the lake, or waterhole, alternating between breaststroke and sidestroke, or floating along on my back, looking up at the sandstone cliffs and the bush.

I came here after work today and spent an hour or more swimming (and taking photos).

After my usual circumnavigation, I swam across the waterhole, and climbed out to sit on the rocks. Usually it is very hot on the sandstone, but today the wind was keeping things cool.

Bent's Basin is about 60 kilometres south-west of the city. It's a deep hole in the Nepean River where it flows through one of many sandstone gorges. There's a camping ground here, and, I'm told, it's very popular with kayakers - though I've only ever seen swimmers when I've been here.

Bent's Basin

I love the smell of cool freshwater on hot rock. Bent's Basin is a great freshwater swimming hole in the Nepean River in Sydney's west.

I enjoyed circumnavigating the water on the day I was here, lazily breaststroking, the only person swimming (though others were picnicking). The water was cool and the sun was warm. Afterwards, I lay on a rock, like a lizard, until I got too hot, and jumped back in for another ten minutes float.

First Freshwater Swimming

Recording my first experiences with saltwater swimming got me thinking about my first experiences with freshwater swimming. These days I take it for granted that I can swim in beautiful creeks and waterholes when I'm bushwalking in the National Parks around Sydney, but opportunities were more limited when I was growing up in England. Or, at least, I thought they were until I started following the activities of the many Wild Swimming groups in the UK.

Pennington Flash, Leigh

Copyright by Margaret Clough. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

When I was in my early teens and living in Lancashire, a group of us used to go swimming in Pennington Flash during the summer. Flashes are lakes formed by the flooding of areas of coal-mining subsidence. These days, Pennington Flash is a pleasant country park, but when we swam here it was still a wasteland of slag spoil heaps and dumped rubbish. I doubt that the water quality was very good. Still, we survived.

This was my introduction to freshwater swimming. I can't remember swimming in fresh water again until I was in my twenties and living in Ambleside, Cumbria.

River Rothay at Waterhead, Ambleside

Copyright Gary Turner. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ )

When I was living and working in a hotel in the Lake District at Ambleside, I used to swim at the mouth of the river where it flows into Lake Windermere. I'd walk down from the hotel across Borrans Field and swim in the river near the ruins of the Roman fort. Although the water was quite cold (it was Spring), the days were usually sunny and the river was clear and beautiful.

Hampstead Mixed Pond

Copyright by David Hawgood. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

A couple of years later, I was living in London. It was a particularly hot summer, and the ponds on Hampstead Heath were absolutely wonderful to swim in.

Swimming From Cronulla To Bondi (via rock pools and tidal baths)

About 18 months ago I finally got around to reading Waterlog by Roger Deakin. Those who are familiar with the book will recall it as a record of his idea to swim his way around the British Isles via rivers, lakes, ponds and lidos (open air swimming pools). In part it was inspired by John Cheever’s short story The Swimmer and by the film of the same name, starring Burt Lancaster. At the time I wondered what a similar journey in Sydney might look like, and thought about swimming in all the coastal pools along Sydney's coast.

However, I completely forgot about this idea until about a year later when, during a winter holiday in London, I went swimming in the (heated) London Fields Lido. Later I was discussing the remaining lidos in London with a friend. She suggested returning one summer and swimming across London via the lidos, and, also referenced the film, The Swimmer. Her idea involved recording the journey by taking photographs at the various lidos and ponds still open for swimming in the metropolitan area. While I'm still keen to attempt this, it also reminded me of my idea to swim along Sydney's coast.

So in April 2009 I started on the first part of the swim - from Cronulla to Bondi. My idea was that I would swim every swimmable rock pool and tidal baths along the coast and bays (but not west of Captain Cook Bridge on the Georges River nor west of Gunnamatta Bay on Port Hacking). Later I decided to include the baths and enclosures on the southern shores of Sydney Harbour. I would, as my friend had suggested, take photos at every location. My only rule was that I must swim at least one length in the direction of completing the overall swim. Of course, I swam many more lengths and laps than this, simply for the fun of it. It took three days to complete, and I immediately regretted ignoring the baths further west, so on the final afternoon headed west of the Harbour Bridge to The Dawn Fraser Baths and Chiswick Baths.

I will, at some point, return to places like Lilli Pilli tidal pool, Como tidal baths and Carss Park swimming enclosure.

The three days of the swim were divided like this:

Day One

Gunamatta Bay Baths

Oak Park Pool (Cronulla)

Shelley Beach Pool (Cronulla)

Cronulla Ocean Pool

Cronulla Rock Pool

Kurnell Tidal Baths

Sandringham Baths

Ramsgate Baths

Monterey Baths

Brighton-le-Sands Baths

Little Bay Rock Pool

Malabar Rock Pool

Mahons Pool (Maroubra)

(I missed Kymeeagh Baths as they were closed due to the construction of the desalination pipeline.)

Day Two

Ivo Rowe Rock Pool (South Coogee)

Wylies Baths (Coogee)

Ross Jones Memorial Pool (Coogee)

Giles Baths (Coogee)

Clovelly Bay

Bronte Baths

Bronte Bogey Hole

Bondi Baths

Wally Weekes Pool (Bondi)

(I missed Clovelly Baths as they had been emptied for cleaning, and, of course, McIvers Baths at Coogee is for women and children)

Day Three

Watsons Bay Baths

Parsley Bay Swimming Enclosure

Nielsen Park Swimming Enclosure

Redleaf Pool (Double Bay)

Dawn Fraser Baths (Balmain)

Chiswick Baths

Cabarita Pool

(I included Cabarita Pool because it is river fed and saltwater and heated - I was cold by this point. I was going to include The Boy Charlton Pool because it's saltwater and because i love it, but when I got there I forgot I had no money for the parking meters, so I could only take a photo and run.)