A week or so ago we were invited to a preview of Batemans Bay's new Aquatic, Arts and Leisure Centre, The Bay Pavilions, thanks to our friend Deidree who's been a long-standing supporter of and fundraiser for it. It blew us away!
At a total cost of $69 million, it has a huge foyer and café, an arts and cultural centre with large flexible, flat floor auditorium with retractable seating for 350 people, dressing rooms, green room and storage, gallery/exhibition space and storage, rehearsal/dance studio/music room, wet arts workshop space and storage, dry arts workshop space and storage, meeting and multi-purpose rooms, an indoor aquatic centre with a 25-metre, eight-lane pool with ramp access, separate 10-metre warm water pool, freeform indoor leisure pool that includes learn-to-swim and toddler areas, water play splash pads, waterslides, gym, and a group fitness and wellness area.
The temperature in the 10-metre warm water pool is kept at a constant 30 degrees which is just perfect for me. All I need to do is close my eyes and I image I'm back in Bali or Bougainville. As for the 25-metre pool, it's rumoured to even have separate peeing and non-peeing sections which quite effectively copy the world's existing carbon emissions rules.
