Woolloomooloo

Woolloomooloo is a great name for a suburb. I'd like to tell you exactly how it's pronounced, but I can't because I haven't actually heard anyone say it. The Sydneysiders refer to it simply as "The Loo", which is typical, because the Aussies cannot help themselves when it comes to shortening words. Afternoon is Arvo, Paddington is Paddo and Clovelly - well, it would be Clo-o, but that sounds wrong, so they call it Cloey instead.

Apparently, Woolloomollo used to be a dodgy sort of place but it's been tarted up in recent years and now even Russell Crowe lives there (and wears a hooded top with Woolloo on one side of the zip and Mooloo on the other - I saw him in the local paper).

This is Andrew "Boy" Charlton pool, an eight-lane, fifty metre pool suspended high above the docks at Woolloomooloo. We stumbled upon it while we were mooching around the edges of the Botanical Gardens. It's a novel setting to say the least, and not content with just building a swimming pool, they've built a toddler pool and a swanky cafe as well. So you can fill up on all that home-made banana bread when you've finished swimming.

There are pools all over the place in Sydney; set into rocks at the side of the beach and built behind walls at the harbour edge. The one at Bondi beach is called "the icebergs" because it freezes over during the winter (and I'll believe that when I see it). This is the most unusual one we've spotted yet, though.