Mason's Waterhole, Cape Tribulation

Daintree Rainforest Retreat, Cow Bay, Cape Tribulation

Pacific International Hotel Cairns

Pool, Port Douglas

6 - 8 Oct 2008. Pool is a pool-a-holic's heaven.

Kids and swimming safety

When I was a child I: 1. Taught myself to swim at about age 4 by watching other kids having provate swimming lessons and then practicing in another part of the pool. Mum and Dad couldn't afford lessons for me; 2. Had swimming as a school activity, and obtained several life saving awards 3. Would, from about the age of 8, go with other neighbourhood kids, unsupervised, to the the local pool. This was common. The pool was a popular site for local kids, and there was no expectation of parental supervision. Above: Here's where I learned to swim, Malvern City Baths. Used to love that diving board too! Below: I can picture mum sitting on that grass as I practiced in the pool. In light of the article below, I wondered just how many drownings take place in public pools. According to this research, between 1992 and 1997, 3% of drownings in Australia in all age groups were in public or "other" pools (ie not private) pools - 28 individuals in public pools. Of those aged less than 5 years, there were no drownings in public pools (but 170 in private pools, and others in lagoons, buckets, bathtubs) A study by the Coroner's Office in Victoria showed that between July 1988 and June 2002, 27 people drowned in Victorian public swimming pools. Of these, three were aged 0-10 and five were aged 11-20. One third ((9) were males aged 21-30. Seven of the 27 deaths were children aged 0-14, two aged under 5. In 2005, one child aged 0-5 drowned in a public pool and one aged 6-14 drowned in a swimmign pool (whether public or private is unspecified) 

  Tough new pool safety rules Rachel Browne October 12, 2008 LIFEGUARDS are removing unsupervised children from public pools and taking them to safety zones under new guidelines to prevent drownings. Initiated by the Royal Life Saving Society, the active supervision of children policy has already been implemented in pools managed by the YMCA and some council-run pools. Under the policy - part of a wider campaign to keep watch at public pools - children aged under five must have a parent or guardian in the water with them and within arm's reach at all times. Children aged between five and 10 must be close enough to a parent or guardian to make eye contact. YMCA group manager and aquatics program manager Craig Lambeth, who is implementing the policy at YMCA-managed pools, said some parents had reacted badly. 

"Under the policy, our staff have to look at the children in the pool, identify those at risk and physically get into the pool, remove them and take them to a safety zone," he said. "We get absolutely slaughtered by parents for doing it. They will look for their kids, they can't see them and they will go into a panic.

 "But we make no apologies for doing it. We are safeguarding their kids. This policy is a guideline only but I'm sure it would be treated as law in a coroner's court." The YMCA manages 13 pools in NSW, including the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre and the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre in Sydney. Mr Lambeth said parents needed to take more responsibility for their children, rather than assuming lifeguards would supervise them. "They haven't been watching their kid and the kid could have drowned," he said. "We have some kids in the safety zone for half an hour before anyone realises they are missing." Children can drown in less than a minute and make up a large proportion of annual drowning statistics. Royal Life Saving Society figures show 35 children aged up to four years old died in 2006-07 and 21 children aged five to 14 died in the same period. They make up nearly a fifth of all drownings in Australia. Rob Bradley, chief executive of Royal Life Saving and convener of the Australian Water Safety Council, said the "keep watch in public pools" campaign was part of a drive to reduce drownings in Australia by 50 per cent by 2020. He hoped all public pools would implement the policy. "We just want to remind parents that lifeguards are not baby sitters," he said. "Parents need to realise that the days of dropping their children off at the pool for a few hours while they go to shops are over. It's not acceptable." 

 Source: The Sun-Herald

The Esplanade Lagoon, Cairns

I'm attending a conference in Cairns in tropical North Queensland. Cairns is the "gateway" to the Great Barrier Reef. It's situated on Trinity Bay, part of the Coral Sea. There's no beach to speak of, as the "beachfront" is a tidal mangrove and mudflat - a great ecosystem, but not what tourists are generally looking for! (though apparently it was orginally a sandy beach, but dredging the shipping channel covered the sand with mud). Cairns has traditionally been seen as a convenient base for trips into World Heritage Rainforest and the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. It's a booming tourist venue

In recent times, the Esplanade area has been completely made over, and as well as boardwalks, kids' playgrounds, large swathes of grass and shade trees, barbecues, there is this massive free swimming lagoon, complete with sand beach. It covers 4 hectares, and is open daily between 6am and 10pm, and patrolled by security guards outside those times to prevent damage.

The water in the lagoon is sea water, but cleaned and filtered every few hours. No marine 'stingers' can enter the water, so it's safe for swimming all year round (you don't go in coastal water in northern Qld between November and April unless wearing a "stinger suit" to protect against deadly jellyfish.) And the beaches and estuaries are crocodile territory as well.

Click here to read more.


Below: Looking north across the mudflats
Below: Grassy areas with shady trees and barbecues

Below: The beach

Below: I love these "woven" steel fish sculptures which spout water. They are by Brian Robinson. Woven Fish was commissioned by the Cairns City Council and the Queensland Government and completed in 2003.




Below: Aerial view of central Cairns, with the esplanade lagoon clearly visible



Below: Hmmmm....I wonder what will happen if I put this...here.

Below: A delicate touch



Below: Still swimming after dark



Below: Early morning Pilates class

Fitness First Sylvania

On my day off yesterday, I went to a 'Body Balance' class at the Fitness First gym at Sylvania, and stayed for a swim. The pool is at the intersection of two very busy roads, yet can't be seen at all from outside, and the trees outside provide a restful setting on a sunlit day.

Australian Olympic swimmers Part Four: Melbourne

Above: A swap card of the swimming stadium at Olympic Park. My Mum went to the swimming here, and recalls seeing Dawn Fraser win one of her races - the 100m I think. Melbourne 22 November - 8 December 1956. 3,314 athletes (2,938 men, 376 women); 72 nations Melbourne was the first time the Olympics had been held in the southern hemisphere (Sydney, 46 years later, was the second), the first time outside Europe or the United States. This caused a problem for northern athletes who had to maintain their peak beyond their usual summer season. The equestrian events were held in Stockholm, due to Australia's strict quarantine laws. The high cost of travelling to the Games meant fewer athletes participated. Melbourne was also the first Games with live television broadcasts and the first in which all the athletes walked together as one in the Closing Ceremony. This change to procedure had been suggested to organisers by an Australian schoolboy, John Ian Wing, and remains a tradition. Television was introduced to Australia in 1956, and was the impetus for many people to buy a set. China pulled out because of the presence of Taiwan, Egypt and Lebanon didn;t attend because of the Suez crisis, and Lichetenstein, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland also withdrew, in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary. East and West Germany competed as a Combined Germany team. That invasion caused one of the abiding memories of the Melbourne Games, A final round water polo match between the USSR and Hungary had to be abandoned as blood was drawn in the pool. Other "stars of the games" included Australian runners Betty Cuthbert (aged 18) and Shirley Strickland. Cuthbert won the 100 and 200 metres and in the 4 x 100m relay, and Strickland added to her medal tally from 1948 and 1952, winning the 80m hurdles and as a member of the 4 x 100m relay. Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina won four golds, one silver and one bronze to be the most successful competitor. In the pool, the stand-out performers were Dawn Fraser, who went on to become the ONLY swimmer to win the same event at three Olympic Games - the 100m freestyle. Murray Rose was the first male swimmer since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924 to win two individual freestyle events (400m and 1500 m) Above: Dawn Fraser wins the 100m freestyle. Australian swimming team Gary Chapman (100m freestyle; 4 x 200m freestyle) John Devitt (100m freestyle; 4 x 200 m freestyle) Jon Donohue Murray Garretty (1500m freestyle; 4 x 200m freestyle) Terrence Gathercole (200m breaststroke) Graham Hamilton (4 x 200m freestyle) John Hayres (100m backstroke) Jon Henricks (100m freestyle; 4 x 200m freestyle) John Konrads John Marshall (200m butterfly) John Monckton (100m backstroke) Kevin O'Halloran (400m freestyle; 4 x 200m freestyle) Murray Rose (400m freestyle; 1500m freestyle; 4 x 200m freestyle) David Theile (100m backstroke) Brian Wilkinson (200m butterfly) Gary Winram (400m freestyle; 1500m freestyle) Alva Colquhoun (4 x 100m freestyle) Lorraine Crapp (100m freestyle; 400m freestyle; 4 x 100m freestyle) Jan Deane Dawn Fraser (100m freestyle; 400m freestyle; 4 x 100m freestyle) Maureen Giles-Monckton (100m butterfly) Patricia Huntingford (100m backstroke) Barbara Sargeant (200m breaststroke) Gergaynia Shelley (100m backstroke) Beverley Spargo (100m butterfly) Pam Hutchings (100m backstroke) Faith Leech (100m freestyle; 4 x 100m freestyle) Sandra Morgan (400m freestyle; 4 x 100m freestyle) Margaret Messenger (4 x 100m freestyle) Elizabeth Walker (4 x 100m freestyle) Events, Medallists, Winning and Australian Times Men 100m freestyle: G: Jon Henricks AUS 55.4 S: John Devitt AUS55.8 B: Gary Chapman AUS 56.7 ( left: Jon Henricks, Jon Devitt and Gary Chapman; right Jon Henricks)

400m freestyle: G: Murray Rose AUS 4:27.3 S: Tsuyoshi Yamanaka JPN; B: George Breen USA 4th - Kevin O'Halloran AUS 4:32.9 6th - Gary Winram AUS 4:34.9 1500m freestyle: G: Murray Rose AUS 17:58.9 S: Tsuyoshi Yamanaka JPN B: George Breen USA 4th - Murray Garretty 18:26.5 8th - Gary Winram AUS 19:06.2 (left: Murray Rose being congratulated)

100m backstroke: G: David Theile AUS 1:02.2 S: John Monckton AUS 1:03.2 B: Frank McKinney USA; 5th - John Hayres 1:05.0 200m breaststroke: G: Masaru Furukawa JPN 2:34.7 S: Masahiro Yoshimura B: JPN Charis Yunitschev URS 4th - Terence Gathercole 2:38.7 200m butterfly: G: William Yorzik USA 2:19.3 S: Takashi Ishimoto JPN B: Gyorgy Tompek HUN 5th - John Marshall AUS 2:27.2 7th - Brian Wilkinson AUS 2:29.7 4 x 200m freestyle relay: G: Australia 8:23.6 S: USA B: USSR Women 100m freestyle: G: Dawn Fraser AUS 1:02.0 S: Lorraine Crapp AUS 1:02.3 B: Faith Leech AUS 1:05.1 (right: Fraser, Crapp and Leech)

400m freestyle: G: Lorraine Crapp AUS 4:54.6 S: Dawn Fraser AUS 5:02.5 B: Sylvia Ruuska USA 6th - Sandra Morgan 5:14.3 (left: Dawn Fraser after heat 3 of the 400m)

100m backstroke: G: Judith Grinham GBR 1:12.9 S: Carin Cone USA B: Margaret Edwards GBR 8th - Gergaynia Shelley AUS 1:14.7 200m breaststroke: G: Ursula Happe GER 2:53.1 S: Eva Ezekely HUN B: Eva-Maria ten Elsen GER 100m butterfly: G: Shelley Mann USA 1:11.0 S: Nancy Ramey USA B: Mary Sears USA 5th- Beverley Spargo AUS 1:15.2 4 x 100m freestyle: G: Australia 4:17.1 S: USA B: South Africa