Thirroul Pool

Heading back towards Sydney after a full day of adventure! I seem to enjoy visiting lighthouses, bridges and swimming pools — and done a few today so it's been a great day all round.

I had Thirroul Pool in mind as a third pool and backup option. Still feeling quite fresh, I looped down from the coastal highway to the cool little town of Thirroul, with yet another stretch of beautiful sandy beach. The area seems to be a hotspot for Sulphur-crested Cockatoos — these huge white birds with their spectacular yellow crests are everywhere in NSW, but I couldn't believe how many I saw driving down into Thirroul.

Thirroul Pool is another 50m, eight-lane ocean pool with a constant feed of fresh sea water from the ocean just the other side of the pool deck wall. You can see the inlet pipe and the force at which the water is pumped in, with the water overflowing a skimmer on the surface to drain back out to the ocean.

This is a great community beachfront pool and, most importantly, it's free to use — and has on-duty lifeguards. Once again, well done Wollongong City Council for making that possible.

The pool itself is basic. There are no changing rooms, only a small toilet at the far end of the pool — hardly large enough to swing a pair of jammers — but who cares, it's free and beachfront! There's a beach pavilion next door with a slightly larger toilet. There are a couple of showers to rinse off the salt water post-swim, and they've even got a neat footbath at the entrance, intended I think to wash sand off feet and keep the pool clean.

There's just one guy in the pool bashing out some laps, so I jump into the furthest lane closest to the beach wall and make a start. The water is perfectly cold — I'd guess around 19 degrees. I've been wearing a fleece top all afternoon as the NSW coast has been quite cool, so jumping into cold water when you're already cold really takes your breath away. I immediately feel the cold water in my ears and realise I've forgotten my earplugs! Too late now — you can't stop the Garmin once it's running.

The pool gets a steady flow of swimmers; most jump in, do a few lengths, then head out — probably washing the sand off after being at the beach! I work through another 1600m swim, same format as the previous two: 1200m followed by 4x100s. Annoyingly, the watch skipped a length on the opening 1200m when I had to make a mid-lap manoeuvre to empty a flooded goggle, but I fixed that with an extra length at the end.

Unlike the previous two ocean pools today, this one isn't clean. There's quite a bit of debris both floating and on the pool floor — mostly bugs, leaves and sand. The pools have advertised cleaning schedules, so I'd guess this one is near due its turn. Not a problem — still a great swim — but I'd have preferred to be wearing my earplugs. I make a mental note mid-swim to try and keep my mouth shut after seeing a rather interesting bright yellow bug floating on the surface!

Swim done, I make a quick stop at Woolworths — still a much-missed brand from the UK high street — before heading back into Sydney CBD.

My fancy Hilton Diamond suite upgrade has dual aspect windows, one side looking down onto the Queen Victoria Building and the other towards Darling Harbour. It's Saturday night, so I'm hoping for a good view of the weekly 9pm Darling Harbour fireworks.