A 10 year old boy takes a drag of his cigarette as we pull into the road leading to Bellambi Beach. I doubt he is a swimmer. One of the hardest parts about becoming swim-fit is getting used to the sensation of exploding lungs, and not quite
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Towradgi heals. The day after I tore the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in my left knee I asked my husband, Kobi, to take me to Towradgi Rock Pool. I limped down the ramp and collapsed into the pool’s embrace. I swam a languid freestyle, my left leg
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I stare at cracks. Swimming up and down Woonona Rock Pool in a straight line, without colliding with other freestylers is possible. Even though the pool has no lane markings or lane ropes, if you have clear goggles and 20/20 vision there are definite lines or cracks
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What’s with the flat rocks sitting on the bench at Coledale Rock Pool? I push one aside, and sit down. The surface of the pool ripples and sprays in strong onshore winds. I squint in the sun, watch two fishermen chasing after something in the wind’s playful
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There’s an otter in the pool. Rather than swimming up and down the length of the pool, the old man with the words “Otter” printed across his bobbing butt cheeks, is freestyling perpendicular, left to right. Otter don’t give a fuck. I watch a while with my buddy
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The Continental Pool is shut until further notice due to COVID-19. Swimming is my preferred form of exercise to relieve stress, next to yoga. I’ve visited all the ocean pools along the south coast, and conclude my local sanctuary is the best of them all. The Conti
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A Vietnamese man praying for refugee status in Australia has had his message in a bottle received. A clear, cone-shaped bottle with the words “I am a Cat” washed up on Wollongong’s North Beach, outside Stuart Park. In the palm-sized bottle are six carefully rolled pieces of
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WHENEVER I consider skipping my swim, I think of Ted’s motto. Ted Hinge is mates with JB (who featured in the previous blog post, “A bit of a legend”), and has been swimming at the Wollongong Continental Pool for 12 years. He jumps in all year round,
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I can hardly believe I swam all through winter with the likes of JB. JB is a Wollongong Continental Pool stalwart who I met on a 13-degree gusty Tuesday afternoon in winter. He was the one and only person in the smaller of the Conti pools that
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YOU never know who you’ll meet on a train. As I embark the quiet carriage from Redfern to Wollongong at 11pm, I am suddenly drawn to an elderly couple with two large suitcases taking up extra seats. The white-haired lady smiles warmly, squeezes her husband’s hand and
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