Fun Facts

Luke Daly and David Stennett are back and ready to dive into a new year! In this Season 2 premiere, they reflect on five years of podcasting and share updates on their latest adventures, including their "Sip and Swim" tour of Brisbane's City Council pools. Along the way, they explore the quirks and history of local facilities, highlight Royal Life Saving Australia's "Keep Your Cool at the Pool" campaign. With plans for an even bigger year ahead, it’s time to say: AO, let’s go

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Transcript

It's a new year. are back. Welcome back to Aquatics Only. AO Luke. Let's go, David. It is January. We're fired up. We got 2025. We're ready to roll. 24 is in the bag. It's in the bag. It's done. A new year awaits. We're already underway. We have been busy and AO has so much to bring you. In fact, right now we've got a little bit of brand competition, some little event going on in Melbourne. People hitting balls at each other. Tiny.

Fun fact on that. Did you know that the tennis Australia CEO was recently named the highest paid sports CEO? Well, there you go. No, I did not know, but thank you for that little piece of information. suspect it's largely because of AO as in, right? Not us. Not us. Probably not. No, well, AO let's go. And that's aquatics only of course that we refer to no trademark copyright infringement there, but we have been busy Luke.

We have, you may have seen online listeners out there a little bit of short video teasing you. Where would people see us online? Like just for those who might not know. Yeah. Well, look, most of our audience sits on LinkedIn. We've got a website. That's because we've got a professional audience. That's right. All you professional people out there. love you. But also you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, just the standard kind of channels. We're everywhere. We try and paint ourselves everywhere. That's right. So.

What have we had come out recently? What have been the little teasers that we've had Luke? Well, if I take us on the path, the last episode you would have heard was episode 10. So we're calling this season two now. We're in season two. We haven't talked about that. Welcome to season two, episode one. just crossed over in the year. So it makes a lot of sense, but also another fun fact, lots of them going around today. This is our fourth year. We're into our fifth year of podcasting now, David. Five years this year of podcasting you and I together. You think we'd be better?

Yes, this is true. Well, there's always hope. not. Say this, we've had Christmas, we've had new year, we've had record days at all our aquatics facilities because it has been hot. Yeah, it's been full on. Anyone would think it's summer. Imagine that. Crazy. Summer and summer. The sun is out. So we're here to guide you. We're here to guide you through summer. We're on the highway to the cooler zone. Good songs. In the pool. I got it. Yeah. I got it.

Luke Daly (02:53.102)
But last week we commenced, we'd been threatening. We've talked about it lot and we executed. Uh, we're not quite there yet. still got a lot to go. We're underway. The hardest part of any journey is the first step. That's beautiful. And we took six steps last week on our journey of 22 steps. did fill us in. Like, what am I talking about? Well, we went to six of the Brisbane city council pools for the $2 dips. Yup. Uh, thank you. Lord mayor out of 22. So we've still got.

What's that 16 to go maths? Yes. Yeah. Maths 22 less six is 16. So still a lot to go. And I've got them grouped. I've got them planned, but we're going out, uh, probably fundamentally we're doing what we're terming and we'll take this to the world. So I might say globally, we're calling it the sip and swim test. sips a coffee to try it out. And you swim in the pool. Let's get that right. I'm not swimming in coffee and you are not sipping pool water. Although in my time, I have seen people do that. Dip their finger, little taste test.

Yes. Yeah. Not right. Not right. I do that. Yeah. have a bit of a spit test. You're not right. So let's go through our day because the day that we chose to go, which was well last Thursday, just for reference point, which will be meaningless in time ahead, but it was a summer scorcher here. I, what are we here at 37 degrees? 38. We did.

It's hot. you know, for y'all, you guys sitting in Victoria and Adelaide and Perth who like, Oh, we're at the 45 degrees. You do, but it's a dry height. It's 38 up here was just obnoxiously heavy and hot. Yeah. And I found it quite funny. Well, I found it funny. I think you did, but, uh, I went for the swims.

And yet when I hopped out, was drier than you were sweating through my pants. was our third visit by that point in the time. You look disgusting. I was filthy. It was absolutely disgusting. But look, why don't we start visit number one? Where do we start our day? Luke, you're local. Well, I can't tell too much of the story because it's all going to be in a video that we're going to put out. Right, David. So stay tuned. That's only a couple of days, baby. Chermside is the one that you're talking about. Yeah. We can walk people through because they, still need the visuals and the true experience.

Luke Daly (05:06.338)
We started your local champ site. It's where I swim. It's 10 minutes drive from my house. It's where I like to go. so I'm well familiar with the facilities there. We didn't get into trouble. Well, not too much. I just got to swim. You did get in a little bit of trouble and there's a little video you've put out about that with two of the lovely ladies in the pool. Yeah. They're fun.

So that's, that's chermside. So seven swim tests there, obviously. they had both our coffee and a pool. Yeah. You'll, you'll have to watch the video to see how much I enjoyed the coffee, which was surprising result actually. And I'll say that. And psychologically, we're still trying to work out whether it's cause you're desperate for one or whether because it was that good. We're not sure yet, but we'll work it out. Don't give away the. You don't want to talk about these. chermside.

It was awesome. Termsides been there a long time and it's got slides. It's got shooter slides. It's pretty cool. Yeah. I will say there was a little bit of a throwback to the sixties that we, we, talk about and that's no bad thing. No, was done probably back then. yeah, yeah, there's some good facility and usage, particularly in the climate that we live here in the subtropics, suppose in Queensland, where we do get some rain. We don't just get the heat in the sun, but we do get a, when it rains, it really rains. does. And then we embarked on our trip over to Sandgate pool.

On our way, Yeah. On our way. discovered there was one in between. did. Emily Seabom. How could we forget Emily Seabom? I just don't think I quite realized it was in the Brisbane city council pools. Yeah. But Hey, you know what my favorite part about that pool was? What? To water clarity. It was beautiful. it was, I mean, it must have a system that's been put on there to keep that water looking well. Would you know anything about that? Well, yeah, I did spec that one. Yeah. Back in the day, 10 years Would you like to talk about it?

No, feel like you'd like to talk about it. Well, I always like to talk about things that I do, but that's why I have a podcast. it's one of the newer Brisbane city council pools. 10 years old, 11 years old. think they clarified for us. gorgeous pool, big school inside, really good accessibility. Yeah. And in that community where it's based in Racken Ridge, there's a lot of that demographic as well. So really important. Now look again, you'll see it in the video. We did run into a little speed hump there. Luke was unable to swim there. but you can watch the video and find out why.

Luke Daly (07:18.414)
But it does lead me to, I want to take a little bit of a sub topic before we go on to the other pools, because from this point on the day got really hot and the pools did start to get really busy. Um, at the moment, um, Royal life saving Australia have their campaign for summer out, uh, keep your cool at the pool campaign. Uh, RJ, get a RJ, RJ Houston, RLSA is general manager for capability and industry.

You know what he said? He said that violence and aggression towards lifeguards and swim teachers is totally unacceptable. I don't think there'd be an argument from that view of me. I don't think there's ever a right time to go up and punch or an abuse. are a hard working lifeguard protecting the interests of our families and people enjoying the facilities. Right? Correct. And this, this campaign has been well adopted by the whole industry. And that's been really good to see, know from an asset perspective, my day job, that's something that we've jumped on board with as well. And it was.

I know we're off on your tangent, but let me take us on a tangent of your tangent is I went actually back to chermside pool at the end of the day, because I left my car in the morning inadvertently, but my son's also had swimming lessons there and chatting with some of the staff as the day wound down, we were there when the water park closed at five PM. And the biggest thing I asked is that how's the day? looked pretty hectic. What kind of numbers did you get? And they shared, but the biggest thing they said, there was no major incidents, which was a relief. I'd say they carry that weight on them all day.

And get to an end of the day. And all of a sudden, that's just a deep breath relief. The pressure's off. Right. Yeah. And so I suppose I lean into this campaign because there's still something to do because that was the first thing that they shared with me at the end of the day. It was, was no major incidents. And look, I get it. It's hot. People get dehydrated because they're busy swimming in the pools. There's kids running around everywhere. I'm not going to lie. I'd probably be fairly stressed if I had to kind of work in the, uh, not even work, but had to take my sons in that kind of environment. Yeah. It was the first thing I said, and I just found that.

interesting because that's why there's probably been such traction around this keep your cool campaign. Belgravia group manager for health and safety, Scott Vander Heyden. He mentioned how lifeguards and swim teachers are often abused for providing basic safety instructions, just trying to provide some direction instructions to users such as to keep watch over their children or to use a particular area of the facility. So, you know, this isn't going out to moms and dads, but if you know, moms and dads happen to be listening to this just, you know.

Luke Daly (09:37.218)
Do yourself a favor. Look after your kids. Don't put pressure on the, unnecessary pressure and blame on the people who are there just trying to protect your kids. Spot on Dave. And I love that comment there from Scott. One of our regular listeners, actually, Scotty. Yeah, Yeah. Good lad. Look, I think as well, I just want to put this out there. You and I highly skilled marketers here. And I think we could come up with slogans. Keep your call in the pool. It's pretty good. Self-proclaimed. Yeah. I we could go with don't be a tool. You're full in the pool.

There's probably more there. Don't drop out of school. You fool, because otherwise you'll lose your cool at the pool. Yeah. Don't, don't clash when you're making a splash. Listen, you fool. The pool is no place for a mule. This is right. Don't bring your mule to the pool. Yeah. I think there's off spins we can do it. I mean, how often are people bringing their donkey down to the pool that they shouldn't? That's too many asses from what I've seen. This exactly right. Including mine on the video. This is true. And so look, we look.

great campaign and, it was amazing to see as we did that journey of six balls. So we left Emily Seabone. We trotted out there to the coast to Sandgate. Yeah. Sandgate is one of the older pools, I think not too old. We'll feature with that soon, but what a facility this was the cafe, the bay cafe there out in the water, beautiful breeze coming in. Again, you'll see it in the longer video. got so hot by this stage. I could not do another hot coffee. This was a,

This was an iced coffee at this venue. That's right. And again, you will see, my hate distress. We caught up, with Tom over there. Who's the general manager of the two facilities, actually Emily Seabom and also Sandgate, but 50 meter pool. did some laps in there, which made me ponder. So if you check our LinkedIn, Dave, you'll see a poll that I put out is it psychologically easier to get to a kilometer by doing more laps in a 25.

or less laps in a 50 more than a 25. It's undeniable. Anybody who sees it differently is just simply wrong or a 60 40 split at the moment. So if you want to weigh in on that, make sure you jump on it. way is it going at the moment? Uh, 60 40 your way. Yeah. Which is also my way. Cause we're right. Yeah. But there's some fit people out there who can stretch out the 50 easy. Cause the reason I thought of this is saying, Hey, totally the super fit people out there. You, you healthy specimens who just make us all feel bad. And you're probably good at maths and engineering and stuff like that. So

Luke Daly (11:57.774)
It's just fit, logical, handsome, good looking people. I Yeah. Cause Emily's C-bone was 25 cherms. was 25 and I'd stretch out the 50 and it was a bit harsh. I'm not going to lie. I struggled to get my massive distance done. So great, great facility. Uh, you, you will again, I know we're to say this a lot, you've seen the video, a little bit of confusion around the colors of chairs and what might be considered one place and not another. Uh, but look, that's maybe up for discussion post.

and if you've got some experience of colored chairs and which ones can go where, where else did we go after that? Luke? just want to finish off to the gardens at Sandgate. Marvelous. Beautiful. Stunning. greenery one downside to me of an avid killer pythons fan, as our listeners would know by this point, they had a substitute. Yeah. Little bags of snakes. Not quite the same. Not quite the same as a big fat killer Python for a buck. Although they have downsides of killer pythons, know, hashtag shrink flation. we then set off.

On a drive into spring Hill, not the spring Hill bars. That was after bits of centenary pool centenary. Yeah. They didn't let me jump off the 10 meter diving board. little bit of a landmark swimming pool there in Brisbane. Yeah. Stunning. Right. Up on the top of hill there in Gregory Terrace. And it was a shame. They did not let you jump off the 10. I wanted to capture that on video. They said I had concrete cancer, which is sad. Very sad. Clyde Berghoff cancer hospital is not far away from there. actually see it from the diving board. Yeah.

Alas, I didn't jump off there, but we did swim. found a, you'll have to again, watch the video for a funny little one-liner there. I will let you find it. I appreciate the support that I'm sure I'm going to get from our listeners and our friends from the abuse that I cop from you. Yeah. Quadix only pod at gmail.com. If you to that through sad face. Yeah. And look by the time, by the time of the day we went there, it was midday. And so I had to keep my swim shirt on at this point. I didn't want to get some, but I found a shady spot.

and we toured around there. Nice long 50 meter pool. New one bulkhead in this one. did. Yeah. The bulkhead was down. they were doing the fifties. Yep. So swim wall was there. We were able to not see it in operation, but see it under the water. Sip test there too, Sip test there. Service with a smile. Yeah. Again, you'll have to watch and see what the, what the result was. You were well caffeinated by this point. I was, I was buzzed. had my buzz. I think I'm still buzzing. I haven't slept in four days.

Luke Daly (14:22.318)
Well, were there because we only had plans to do four pulls this day and by plan, I had a plan, um, to do four pulls. Uh, then someone said, you going over to this one? And we said, yep, we are now, we weren't, but I'm sure glad we did. This to me is probably if we're going to split these videos up into six different sub videos out of the long one, this one's a pretty special one. Yeah. It's spring Hill baths built in 1886.

And if you haven't been there, which I hadn't, it was an absolute treat to go in. nothing like I'd ever seen before. The rules up around the wall were hilarious. Again, you'll have to choose. My favorite one. actually said in there in the video, but there was another one which said no spitting. was going to say no spitting. That's a classic that you have to put the no spitting. 1886 was a couple of years after you were born.

Luke Daly (15:16.229)
Nothing. No, it's just no retort. No, no, no. I mean, I, I respond to intelligent conversation. Okay. the spring Hill bars were open in 1886. Amazing. 140 years almost. the pool design was one of my favorite things, along with the chair. Actually I loved everything about it. It was a bit, we're not even nostalgic because I didn't grow up in that era, but yeah, man, a lot of, it was absolutely a throwback. The booths around the outside of what's saying.

And Luke got engaged and got engaged, was engaged in a conversation with a, with a woman who swims there every day. And that's a conversation. and the great race worth seeing too. Yeah. just, just a really out of the box experience. wasn't expecting on the day. Fun fact. Yes. Third one for the day. That pool is 23 meters long. it really 23? Is that because it was back in the day of yards? Must've been. My mom looked it up for me because I told her about it.

So that'd be what? That'd be probably 25 yards. I guess so. don't know. Possibly 30 yards. don't know. Any of our listeners old enough to know, you know, pre metric what that is. That'd be, that'd be something I suppose we could look it up and Google, but that'd be boring right now. You just tell us. that's right. We'll copy a text message. Absolutely. All right. So Spring Hill, that was actually pretty special. The Bards. Then we went on to Newmarket. That's, that's correct. Where we had competition. We got famous. Well, they got famous.

We got famous. we bigger than channel nine at this point? We're not. All right. So we made it on the 6pm broadcast. Yeah. I certainly had equipment, Andy. That guy's camera was a lot better than my little Samsung phone. A lot bigger than mine. But you know, our microphones worked and, and look, we've got a more dedicated audience. And the, and the presenter Claire was much better dressed than either you and I ever. Yeah. Hard to argue. Yeah. Consummate professionals. This is one of those times, dear listeners, where.

Just one more really came into play because we cooked by this boy. We were cooked like almost literally with just the heat of the day. Yeah. So were baked in our own juices. Yep. We're about to call it quits. But said, just one more. And we're glad we did. 6pm broadcast. There's a snippet of us got interviewed by channel nine. did. Yeah. You got to see the ugly mugs on. I mean, the pretty faces on there that were absolutely ever ready. That's what we are. Yeah. We saw them with their cameras. Thought we'd just walk over and.

Luke Daly (17:37.356)
Thought they had the best spot for filming. we thought we'd do ours there too. And they saw us filming and what they say, one take wonders. They said about us, they were impressed by our professionalism and our ability to just make stuff up on the spot. we putting words in their mouth at that point? No, that was their words. Did you see at that pool? That was their words. Yeah, I'm glad I've moved on. No, just like, don't want to bask in her glory for too long. It was actually more about you, You were impressive.

I never met a mic I didn't like. Shout out to Canada for that one. Tyn and Murphy tells me I've never met a mic I didn't like, but you've had the same comments. Like have former fluid or a managing director told you that he wasn't going to give you the microphone. True story. Hello, Steven. How are you made? Uh, the market was pretty impressive. was busy. Yeah. Not just packed. was compact. Now we didn't do a swim there because nowhere to swim too busy. You'll see the photo that we've put up.

But we did do a sip test. did. We did. Yeah. Four or five for you for the day. Look, maybe it's cause that had so many, but I'll just say right here. Wasn't the best of the day. I will, I will let that one sort of simmer for a bit. Okay. Well, I'll put it out there because it was my first of the day. Therefore it was the best of my day. Okay. So smoke and balances, but also the worst of your day. No, this is a positive podcast. Is it? It's also truthful. And if it was the first of your day, was the worst. Yep. Equally as much as the best.

Come fight facts, mate. It's logic. Yep. No, I'm here. use that was six pools. and then yeah, you'll see some videos. We'll tease you a little bit with a few more shorts coming out. And obviously you've heard the podcasts where we keep referring to it. I hope you've got, you know, enthusiasm and you're ready to watch the video. That's pretty good. If I don't say so myself, did you edit it? Mostly. That's probably why it's good. That's a bit of fun. Look.

Our joy and our pleasure really is this industry getting out and seeing the hardworking professionals and community getting in those pools and enjoying it and loving it. Kids laughing, kids splashing, families making memories. Just it was, it was wonderful. One of my favorite moments. So honestly was your conversation with the older lady at Spring Hill. was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. Every day she swims. Yeah. For an hour and has done for seven or eight years. think she said that.

Luke Daly (20:00.11)
I reckon it'd be longer. I don't reckon she actually knows. No, she's probably forgotten and she swims to put off aging, which we've touched on. We're going to have to look into this. We're going have to do a scientific study into the benefits of anti-aging through swimming. No, she was sharp. Yep. Quick. Yep. Smart and engaging. A little bit smarmy. A little bit. She'd be cheeky to you Lucas. She did. won. She only went to halfway though. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Don't give it away. You'll have to watch.

I didn't say she won, just said she cheated. We didn't set the rules to be fair. It's not that hard. just don't like me. Six pools, 16 to go though, David. Uh, so we've got our work cut out for us cause time is running out. We've only got one. I don't know. Maybe February's a short month. Halfway through summer. Yeah. got five more. We have to. No, no, we made an effort. We tried. Not acceptable. Okay.

We've got to get it done. You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to finish it. I've got it mapped out. I'm ready to go. We've just got to make the top. All right. And then we take it around the world or around Australia first and then around the world. I like it. Yeah. We're to partner up with Joe over in the West coast. She's already done the hard yards for us over there. I want to do some cold plunges. You and I have done a couple of these before. Finland. Well, I haven't done Finland yet, but we did do Queenstown. Norwega. We haven't done Norway yet. Thanks. But we have done Queenstown. We actually did. Yeah.

Yeah, we did. Were you there? We've jumped. I've done Adelaide in the cold water as well. No, that was asset conference prior to my appointment in 23. Okay. That was a good fun too. So it's been a, it's been a couple of cold. Yeah. Port Douglas in the freezing cold water. I think the impetus of the point. was actually super cold. It was up at Mossman gorge technically, and it was the middle of winter. it was cold, Jambo. You went down with the Arakanji and the sea snakes.

The crocodiles. didn't see any snakes. There we go. They saw you. Look, it is good to be back. We are on the journey again for another year with you. We are so thankful for you joining us. Make sure that you are, you get involved in the polls online. You like subscribe, you do all the stuff that just helps us stay connected and grow. We want to continue and grow our conversation with you. That's it. And I think people are catching onto the themes that we're doing here, Dave, because there was something that came out in the courier mail.

Luke Daly (22:25.102)
Our research assistant sent me a research assistant is on the books. Oh, we've got more. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So look, my mom sends me things that she thinks would be worthy of the podcast. Uh, and there's an article out a couple of days ago, January 18, actually might've been in the Sunday paper. Uh, and it's called where it's hard to find a pool in SEQ, our cheapest dips in Southeast Queensland. So they've obviously surveyed a number of things. I'll, I'm going to put a link up in the show notes, because I think it's something, a theme that we could pick up on here.

They've surveyed Brisbane, not Brisbane, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. right. The East coast. Yes. Well, not including ACT, although technically are they East coast? I mean, they are, but they're not. Anyway. yeah, the East coast. And then we've. Love you. We'll put the, have a look at the table for yourself, but it's a really interesting table. Now, obviously there's, it's data, so we've got to put asterisks around it. It's not our data, so we don't have to.

No, there's, definitely asterisks that have to go around. You can take a look at it and go, some of this is good. Some of it's not, but as an indicative piece of information, tell us what we're seeing. Just give us the overview. Yeah. So I've got the council and there's a state and then the residents per pool is the, is the data set that they're looking here. Uh, the fees for an adult and the fees for a child. bit that I've noticed, um, I guess here for me is out of the top 10.

Highest residents per pool. that's least means it's the hardest to access the swimming pool. So the 10 worst spots in the East coast of Australia are? Primarily in Victoria and New South Wales, but Melton in Victoria, which seems a bit surprising. It's relatively... What's the worst in Queensland just out of interest? that's a tough, tough question. There's then at Redland city, which I think was actually the main content of this article. So down by the Bay side, the Southern Bay side, with 83,000 and there's...

We've touched on, we'll touch on again in this podcast. It's around infrastructure actually. So Cleveland pool as one of the major ones down there has been closed and it's, close for refurbishments. Okay. So when that opens again, asterisks that number comes back down probably on average with the rest of Queensland, is, there's some conjecture around it. That's part of the point. It's always conjecture. It's around funding though. know. I know. Check out that link. I think it's worth looking at and yeah.

Luke Daly (24:41.344)
Episode one in the bag for 2025 Dave. Luke, it's good to be back listeners. It's great to be back with you. Looking forward to a great year ahead. We've got a big year. We do. AO. Let's go.