West Wave Pool

Started the day in Rotorua. The sun was out, so I planned something outdoors once I'd sampled the Pullman hotel breakfast buffet and cleared a bit of work. Rotorua is famous for geothermal activity and, after a quick bit of research, Hell's Gate Geothermal Reserve looked like the pick. It was given its English name by George Bernard Shaw in 1934 after his visit to the boiling pools and erupting mud volcano. I spent a couple of hours on the geothermal loop walk, then the customary mud bath. I hired a towel and swimwear because the sight of me in jammers in a mud bath might be slightly odd, and the very specific post mud bath washing routine to remove the sulphur and minerals seemed more hassle than it was worth. Either way, it's a great experience and one I'd recommend. More here: https://www.hellsgate.co.nz

Mud bathing done, time to head 260 km north towards Silverdale. Apple Maps said just over three hours, and as the route took me close to the West Wave pool in Henderson, West Auckland, I added the stop and set off. All smooth until the outskirts of Auckland. I definitely didn't think through rush hour. The crawl almost had me bail more than once, and a wrong motorway turn added another 20 minutes for good measure.

Arrived at West Wave Leisure Centre to a packed car park and signs warning of a pool closure for three days starting today. I'd checked the website earlier and it said the lane pool was open. Parked up and went into reception, left my kit in the boot while I scouted the situation. This place is busy. There's even a cordoned queue with a 'pool full, wait for space' line. Up to the front to ask the receptionist: the lane pool is open, it's the diving pit that's closed, and the queue is for the aquapark, not laps. Grabbed my kit, paid the very standard NZ$8.50 entry and headed for the changing rooms.

Out on deck the 50 m pool was, as expected, disected by the floating boom, a total of 16 25m lanes. From the timetable I saw earlier I think they generally leave it like this; I couldn't find any day with a 50 m lane session. Quick check with the lifeguard about which lanes were open and I headed to the far side on the left of the boom. The diving pit was fenced off. The water looked almost black, maybe dye in the water for testing or simply the lights were off in that section.

The fast lane had three lads with fins, snorkels and water polo caps doing sprint 100s. I decided to join them and see if I could hold pace through an opening 1 km. It went well. I think they were expecting a slow bod in the way and looked a bit surprised. We settled into a neat rhythm where they pushed off right in front of me. Worked perfectly and the draft definitely helped my pace.

1 km done at a reasonable clip. I reckon 10-15 seconds could be knocked off the 14:51 for the couple of times I let the water polo lads pass early on. Finished up with 10 x 100s to take it to an easy 2 km, which I need to keep up if I'm going to swim daily for the next couple of weeks.

It's a great pool, well specced with every clock and accessory you could want, and the hall itself feels absolutely huge.

Swim done, back in the car for the 30 minute drive north to Silverdale.