Maybe you had to be there.....

Some of you will no doubt have heard by now that my new "hobby" is swimming. (I'm not terribly keen on the word "hobby", but I prefer it to "exercise regimen")

Anyway, unsurprisingly enough, Sydney has a fair few pools around the place where you can go and swim up and down for a small fee.

One of these pools is at Bondi - at the beach funnily enough. If you were standing on Bondi beach looking out to see, you'd look to your right and see a while building at the side of the bay with a small pool below it. The pool is open to the elements, salt water, filled with water from the sea every couple of days.

Anyway, my friend and I decided we were going to go swimming at this pool one Sunday morning (as you do) and then trot along to get a very unhealthy breakfast and a little restaurant up the road. So we get to the pool and it's looking great. It's the middle of June (ie winter) but it's not freezing and there are people swimming, so it's going to be fine.

We pay our money to the guy at the counter, get changed and wander down to the pool. One little toe into the water and it's FREEZING. Clearly the water is unheated and taken from the sea in the depths of the night when the water is at it's coldest. And that explains why the pool is actually called 'Icebergs'. SHIT.

So there we are, the condundrum, do we get in the water and swim a bit to save face and pretend we're not tourist wuss's or do we hot foot it outta there pronto before we freeze to death?? Of course at this level in the pool you can see people wearing wet-suits - so you know how bloody cold it must be. Well the conundrum is made worse by virtue of the fact that overlooking the pool is a large bar and restaurant filled with people considerably more sensible than us.

So the answer was we had to brave the cold, save what face we had left, especially me after shreiking in horror at the cold. So it went like this.
Step.... ankles covered in icy water.
Wait.
Step... calves covered in icy water.
Wait.
Step... Up to mid thigh now in icy water.
Wait.
Wait.
Step... Up to my waist in freezing cold ridculous water.
Wait.
Wait.
Step.... Up to my boobs in icy water.
Wait.
Wait.
Step.... Up to my shoulders in icy water....
Wait.
Wait.
Finally after much deep breathing and courage gathering I slip into the water. OK it might have actually been more like a submission, but having gone that far I had nowhere to go.

I swear I have never been in water so cold. After that we decided a drop in the sea wouldn't be too bad, so we stepped out of the pool and down the steps to the icy waters. And behold it was like stepping into warmth. According to the temperature board that we failed to spot on the way in, the sea was a whole two degrees warmer than the pool. Oh my freaking god.

It should go without saying. Never again.