The Great Swimming Pool Quest

Now when I first started, I was actually speaking at an event and I made an announcement. I'm going to swim in every Perth public pool. I thought, well, why am I doing this? Well, there's a couple of reasons. One was to get out of my own comfort zone, a bit of adventure, and then I started rating them, as you do. So I had a spreadsheet which had a few columns. What's the pool entry price? What have they got? Like how many pools? You know, have they got a 50-meter or a 25? How many lanes do they have? What are the opening hours? And the spreadsheet grew. And I also started taking photos. Then I started looking at the showers, the change room situation. Which ones, you know, some showers are timed, some are not. Some have got taps, some have got push buttons. You know, some are hot, some are cold. Different temperatures, all sorts of things. So this whole project grew. But the reason I actually started it and the whole swimming thing is I always wanted to swim in Scarborough Pool. I didn't have the courage to go by myself because I thought it was full of super fit people with beautiful bodies.

Beautiful people.

In bikinis and I don't belong there. That was in my head. So I started swimming at my local pool because my mother-in-law was going. I thought, well, she can, why can't I go to the pool? I'll join her. I'm going to get my brave bathers on and start doing it. Started doing that. And then of course started doing training. I like challenges, but I, You know, putting yourself in a strange place dressed in not very much, because bathers, you know, are pretty tight. You're really almost naked, really. Going to a strange place, I don't know how it'll work. So, it was me getting out of my own way, also getting out of the way of how do I look in my bathers and all the hangups that you have as a female with that.

Yeah.

Plus adventure. So, it grew and grew. And then I decided to open it up and get really uncomfortable and start meeting people for a swim. LinkedIn connections who I've never met before.

Really?

So, I added another component which I called my splash networking. So, I created an event and I decided I was going to be at this pool on that day and I'd sort of tie it in with my schedule. So, if I'm doing some training down in Rockingham, I'd look and go, oh, there's 2 pools down there I can knock out in that one day and I can go and go and adventure and meet, you know, rate them, but also who can I meet? So, a few of my LinkedIn connections booked a swim with me. I'd never met them in person before and the next thing we're in the pool in bathers. Generally, there were females, but one was a guy. He happened to run the centre. So I thought, oh, this is gonna be really awkward. I'm meeting a young guy— well, younger anyway— I've never met before, and we're in bathers. That's really awkward. But by that stage, I was just really comfortable in being in the pool, and like I said, I'm just really curious. So we got chatting about swimming and triathlons, and he ran the pool, like I said, so he had a lot of information, which was helpful. So by the end of the quest— and I set a goal to do it in 12 months— So, that last week I was scrambling because I thought I had a couple of pools that popped up. One was Wesley College because I last minute— last minute research, I found out they charge an entry fee. So, technically they're a public pool. I mean, it's limited time and UWA. So, I did those in one day and they became part of the quest. Now, what I did as a next point was I turned that information into an ebook. So, you can actually get the Perth Pool Guide now where I rate them. They're all in order. So it was my sort of summer project, nothing to do with my business.

So you did all 34 pools?

All of them. I've swum in all of them now. And then there's the— and I distributed the ebook to all the pools so they can sort of see. But I also made it really clear that it's my opinion. The ranking is my opinion. Because obviously, you know, you might like an indoor pool because it's, you know, heated. I like outdoor pools and I like 50-meter pools. So I'm going to rate those higher than an indoor pool, even if it's warmer.

How much did you swim in each one? What did you do, 10 laps or 1 lap or what did you do?

No, no, my normal laps. I used to do about a kilometre.

So what's that, 20 laps, is it?

Yeah, in the 50-meter pool. Yeah, so it depends on the day. Now I also extended it now to regionals. I've got my regional quest, which is— doesn't have a sort of definite timeframe because it depends on my travels. So when I went to Broome, Broome pool down south was easier. So, and this is where the quest went a bit more creative. So I was down in— where was I? Down in Bunbury. So, I'd been in the Bunbury pool. I'd been down to Margaret River, Busselton. They've all got pools. But then I decided on the way back, so I was at Collie. There's 3 pools on this stretch. So, I had a swim, did a kilometre at Harvey Pool. That's not heated. That was cold. No one else was in the pool. Did a kilometre there, got out, dried off. Now I have to use the showers. So, I had to physically, you know, have a shower, get dry, get dressed, drive 20 minutes up the road to where was next? Was it—

Waroona.

Get undressed, bathers back on, wet, cold, back in the pool, another kilometre. Get showered, get dressed, and then up to Pinjarra. Now, I was going to do a 4th. I was going to go across to Rockingham then. That was, you know, but I thought that's probably too much. So, the regional pool is a side project, but it's got me out and about and, you know, swimming in places I would never have normally gone to, in suburbs I just wouldn't go.

And there'll be no one else who's done that.

No. So, I've got this ebook now, like I said, and now the thing— the thought is there are some new pools under construction. I think Ellenbrook's getting one, Alkamos is getting one. Hope— yeah, I think that's all happening. And then pools getting updates. So, my local pool is closed at the moment for renovation. So, I'm gonna have to go back there. So, it's just a decision. Do I go and re-rate them off my own back or do I invite them to invite me sort of thing? Do you want your pool re-rated?

You know, what a great idea.

But it's when I bring it into my business, like I said, the, the concept of the Splash Networking, that was where I thought, how can I bring this interest into my world?

You know, that's quirky.

Yeah. So when I network now, because I talk in quests now, for me, when you said you have a quest, I want to know more about that. Because that, this, a quest is different to a goal, I think, because I think a quest could be a series of goals, but it's almost like it's a project. And it's something that's complete, isn't it?

Sort of— It's quirky.

So I actually say to people—

A quirky quest.

What is your quest? What quest are you on? And it gets people thinking because it's not about your work now. It's not about what you do.

It's what do you really love? What a great idea. What a great conversation starter.

What are you passionate about? You know, I'm not a brilliant swimmer. I just love adventure.