I joined the Lakes Entrance Aquadome the week it opened, in April 1995. We’d moved to Metung from Melbourne nine years earlier and I had been really missing the opportunity to swim. What a pleasure the new pool was compared to the Melbourne pools I’d known. No crowded lanes, no aggressive swimmers, no sullen staff.

Over the years, I’ve used the Aquadome gym, too: pilates, pump, balance, circuit and spin. But swimming has always been my first love, and now as old age creeps up and my bones become less reliable, it’s the pool that keeps me flexible and healthy.

It’s not just physical health; the mental health benefits are undeniable. The staff’s welcome lifts my spirits. I savour the rhythm and effort of swimming, and afterwards, the sense of euphoria from the endorphins and accomplishment. I enjoy yarning with my fellow swimmers as we catch our breath between laps.

Twice a week I swim in the early morning and it sets me up for the day ahead. And I swim on Sunday afternoons to mark the week’s end (while my husband exercises our two border collies at the adjacent dog park). These are the benefits that keep me motivated.

Even at this age (68), I manage 60 laps each session. I time my swimming, not because I expect to get faster – those days are long gone—but because I’m trying not to get too much slower.

These small goals I set – the number of laps, the time it takes – they’re insignificant if we’re looking at big pictures, but they’re important to me, to my sense of achievement and wellbeing.

I love the pool when it’s full of happy kids, how their cries of joy reverberate around the big, open space. I relish the silence of slipping into undisturbed blue water, the only swimmer (a rare occasion, admittedly).

A handful of words to describe the Lakes Entrance Aquadome staff and my fellow swimmers: welcoming, friendly, caring, engaging, interested. And the facility: spotless, well maintained, light-filled, and, after three decades - a bit like home.

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