AUT Millennium

Arrived into Auckland yesterday morning, quick drive to Silverdale in the rental Toyota RAV4, then straight out for lunch and a walk along Goat Island beach. Managed to stay awake until 10 pm to beat the jet lag. Woke at 4 am wide awake and ready to swim. Spent an hour in bed researching pools and made a plan to head 20 minutes back towards the city for a 50 m swim at AUT Millennium — the timetable suggested 50 m format from 5:30 to 9:00.

It's a wet and misty morning in Auckland, and cold! I thought I'd left the weather behind in the UK after two days in 39 degree Dubai!

It's a 20 minute drive south down SH 1 (the main road that runs the entire length of New Zealand, from North island right down through the South Island) from Silverdale to the AUT Millenium sports hub. Pulled into the car park adjacent to a very impressive looking facility — there are two 50 m pools on site in separate buildings. Had a peek into the Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre across the way, you can just about see the empty pool from the cafe in reception (from the pool website I knew it was closed for refurbishment, being re‑tiled) will definitely need to come back again to get this one on the list - reopens January 2026. Cross the zebra crossing to the very busy AUT Millennium centre. Through the glass in reception, you can see the 50 m, 10‑lane pool - buzzing with training sessions. Looked absolutely awesome.

The reception team were great — fast‑lane check‑in (no idea what that is), then a super friendly, helpful lady took a very reasonable NZD $11 lane‑swim fee, warned me there were only three lanes open to the public and it might be busy, lent me a padlock (forgot mine), and walked me to the 'nice' changing rooms - she didn't want me to use the grotty one!

Out on deck to find only slow and medium lanes marked; the third lane was reserved for water‑walking aerobics. When I say slow and medium, both had some pretty decent pace going on. I jumped in the slow lane — actually the quicker of the two — and got moving. My lane buddies were doing 100s with fins and across the pool was a sea of NZ team caps running drills with bungees and all sorts of kit.

Fantastic swim environment — it really helps to have fast pace all around you. Ten 50 m lanes. About half the pool seems to sit over concrete floor at roughly 2 m depth, then there's a step halfway up to give a shallow end (I'd guess around 1.2 m). There's a floating boom at one end but I couldn't quite figure out how they divide things up with it.

The floor is concrete and a bit dinged in places — worn, but in a good, well‑used way. Water is super clear and perfectly cold.

Worked through 1 km, had to stop to remove the wristband as it was pinching between skin and watch (my fault for asking for it tight). Finished up at 3.2 km with a mix of shorter sets.

Time for breakfast. The sun came out. Drove 10 minutes to Browns Bay, the closest beach town. Five minutes on a bench looking out to the beach and ocean and I decided I'm not going home, I'm just going to stay here and live here in Browns Bay! However, I will need one of those multi‑million dollar houses on the waterfront!

Checked TripAdvisor and found a recommended breakfast spot: Common Ground Cafe — excellent.