In Europe, the leaves are on the ground - and in Australia, the anticipation of the summer is growing, which is always celebrated there as a beloved outdoor season. The good weather drives the bathers to the beaches, for surfing, chilling and swimming.
But while some happily plunge into the waves, swimmers can do without them. Those who just want to splash, just bother if you want to pull a few kilometers of lanes. But there are the so-called ocean pools, seawater pools, which are often built directly into the rocks.
Swimming here is more than sport. It is way of life, enjoyment, luxury with training effect. Many of the ocean pools provide a spectacular backdrop as they often separate only a narrow concrete wall from the open sea. And there are three major advantages over swimming in the sea: no current, rarely waves and no sharks. In Australia that's not unimportant.
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Ocean Pools in Australia: Built close to the waterIn the coming summer, which starts in the southern hemisphere in December, the pools will be 200 years old. Its "inventor" was an English Lieutenant General named James Morisset. As city commander of Newscastle on the East Coast - Australia at that time was still British convict colony - Morisset decided in the summer of 1819 that he needed a private place to swim. So he had a basin in the rock blown up by the sea, which prisoners then had to straighten.
From the pool to the selfie spot
Today there are more than a thousand such ocean pools on the fifth continent. The "Bogey Hole" of Newcastle is one of the smallest: six and a half by ten meters, on average only one and a half meters deep.
No comparison to the most famous of all pools: the "Icebergs" in Sydney, right on the world famous Bondi Beach. There you swim in a nearly Olympic-friendly 50-meter pool on eight ordered tracks. Even tourists are allowed into, for not even five euros - for swimming or even just to take pictures. Anyway, since Instagram is popular, more is coming.
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Open-Air Art in Sydney: Hidden AgonyHowever, anyone wanting to become a member of the Bondi Icebergs Club, founded in 1929, must pass an entrance test. This includes having to swim five Australian winters (May to September) in succession on three of four Sundays. So that the thing is not too easy, blocks of ice are thrown into the saltwater at the opening of the season. The water can also be quite cold without this.
In addition, here and there are always crashing waves in the basin. Sometimes, the veterans say, ocean pools are "like swimming in a washing machine". The next day but also like a bath in champagne.
1000 meters swimming in 1000 pools
One who needs to know is Kenton Webb. The 49-year-old from Sydney pursues an ambitious project: 1000 meters of swimming in 1000 pools. He already has 521. "What I like about Ocean Pools The taste of the water: real sea The colors: green, blue, turquoise Pure white when a wave comes and the cleanliness: you can see the sand on the ground."
Most of the ocean pools were built in the twenties and thirties, as part of government construction projects during an economic crisis. That was a time when many people could not swim properly and did not dare to go to the sea. And, of course, many people were afraid of sharks at the time. Before that one is largely safe in the pools.
Every few years, however, a shark is flushed into the pool - in Sydney last October 2017. A woman quickly steered the one-meter animal back into the sea.
In the meantime, Ocean Pools got out of fashion. Also in Australia, many cities preferred to build indoor pools, which can be used all year round. The latest Ocean Pool is from 1969. At the moment it looks like a comeback: Currently there are new projects in a dozen coastal communities, some of which are already well advanced. The architect Nicole Larkin from Sydney developed an interactive page with 60 existing pools in 3D on the internet.
The city of Ballina explains the rediscovered interest as follows: "We live in an older society, the ocean pools allow children and older people to swim in nature without the risks of the sea." In addition, the seawater basins in construction and operation are much cheaper than indoor swimming pools that need to be heated and chlorinated. Some also argue that in times of climate change, water resources need to be better utilized.
Kenton Webb is a long way from such considerations. On his way to the thousandth record, he wants to swim through 50 new pools next year when he turns 50. Other destinations include a pool in Berlin, no pool by the sea, but at least a pool in the river: the "Badeschiff" in the Spree. Once the Australian was there even at the door. But the pool was closed for renovation.
