Dawn Fraser Baths

After a fantastic morning at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, I've headed about 20 minutes east to Balmain to visit the oldest swimming pool in Australia, and home to the oldest swimming club in the country.

A bit of history first. This place is a heritage-listed gem. It's a wooden-frame pool built on timber piles, sitting right in the Parramatta River, pretty much where it becomes Sydney Harbour. The baths first open in 1882 as a much smaller 30-yard, roofed pool. They originally planned separate male and female baths, but settled on separate bathing times instead. The Balmain Swimming Club quickly found the length inadequate, so in 1888 the pool expanded to 48.5 yards. By 1900, thanks to growing popularity, another A$1,000 went in, the roof came off, seating for around 2,000 spectators was added, and the length increased to 68 yards. In 1926 the baths were upgraded again: length out to 73 1/3 yards, a new two-storey spectator pavilion, and an enhanced entrance building.

Dawn Fraser grew up locally in Balmain and went on to win Olympic gold in 1956, 1960 and 1964 in the women's 100 free. She was also the first woman to break a minute for the 100 metres. She trained here when it was called Elkington Park Baths, before the baths were dedicated in her name on 1 December 1964 after her third Olympic gold.

The pool is home to the Balmain Amateur Swimming Club (BASC), established in 1884, the oldest swim club in Australia.

Arrival is easy: park on Fitzroy Avenue at the top of the steps down to the pool. Pay the very reasonable entry, quick change, then out onto the deck. The sun is out and the deck is fairly busy with sunbathers, but only a couple of people are braving the cold water. I drop my kit on a bench by the far-side pavilion, then make the long walk back around to the floating pontoon. The pool is tidal and, judging by the step marks, the tide is out. Hop down onto the pontoon, walk to the end, then make a semi-controlled jump in off the end steps. Yep, it's cold. I ease into a slow breaststroke over to the 'lanes' — two ropes dividing the 50 m pool into three extra-wide lanes.

After checking the website this morning and seeing the Sydney Harbour water-quality notices, I wear my 'Steve Hales' today (my custom black and green ear plugs): https://www.stevenhalehearing.co.uk

Watch started, push off. Unlike other ocean pools that fill at high tide, the Dawn Fraser Baths use shark-proof netting to keep the Parramatta bull sharks out. I'm not 5 m in before I spot a couple of decent-sized fish — the net must have some gaps! I forget to snap the photo, but the deck has plenty of warning signs. The biggest, brightest ones say 'Stingers' with a rather menacing jellyfish silhouette. 'Jellyfish' sounds much less scary than 'stingers'.

I skip flip turns. There's algae on the ends and it only extends a couple of feet below the waterline. The last thing I want is to slip, miss, and get a foot caught in the shark net.

I finish a leisurely 1,200 m to wrap a 4,200 m day. Cold water, history all around, and a view straight out to the harbour. Magic.