Beaches, Lakes, Gorges: Here Are The Best Places To Swim Around Australia

Caroline Clements and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon took a year off work to live the Aussie dream: travelling the country in search of the best swimming spots, from beaches to lakes to gorges. Here, they talk us through some favourites from their resulting book Places We Swim, a loving homage to our national obsession with the water.

For many of us in Australia, it is impossible to separate ourselves from the water. A thousand sensory memories flood back with every slop of sunscreen: windy days picking sand from our lunch and the feeling of salt water drying on our skin, scratching us under our clothes. As people of the world’s driest inhabited continent it’s no surprise that water should have such an elevated role in our society. It’s a fixation that has defined us since the beginning, whether we are coastal or inland dwellers.

Our fascination with water remains a critical part of our social identity. Through Places We Swim (Hardie Grant Travel, $39.99) we’ve tried to capture the very best possible representation of the country – we wanted it to be as democratic as possible. Swimming cuts through age, class, gender, religion and ethnicity. After all, what is more equalising than being outdoors in near nakedness among strangers?

In this way, swimming is a natural access point to understanding the Australian experience. On a hot day, any swimming hole in the country will provide a cross section of all people. Whether it’s the beach, an ocean pool, a lake, river, gorge, dam, waterfall, hot spring or billabong, these bodies of water and the surrounding landscapes reveal our better selves. Each place tells a story of its community.

The idea of documenting our swims is something that we had been indirectly working on through years of road trip adventures. However, it was only when our far-fetched pitch was accepted by our publisher that it coalesced into a book. We had always talked about driving a big lap around the country and suddenly found the perfect excuse to do so. Writing a book about the best places to swim in Australia felt like the ultimate study on our cultural connection to water, and maybe the best job we’d ever have. Here is a snapshot of some of our favourites.

Beach

Bay of Fires, Tasmania

It might not be what you expect but Tasmania is home to some of Australia’s best beaches. You just have to be OK with the immune-boosting power of cold water. And if you like white sand, perfectly clear water and going to the beach but not sharing it with other people, this is the place for you.

Pool

Merewether Ocean Baths, New South Wales

Newcastle has a long history of popular swimming spots, but Merewether baths is our favourite. The complex opened in 1935 and is the largest in the southern hemisphere. It’s also open year-round, 24 hours a day and is free to enter.

Lake

Little Blue Lake, South Australia

Little Blue Lake, also known as Baby Blue, sits in an unassuming paddock south of Mount Gambier. This lake is actually a sinkhole, formed by the gradual collapse of an underground cave. The pool’s average depth is about 35 metres and is popular for diving, though surface swimming is more our speed.

Hot Spring

Dalhousie Springs, South Australia

Early morning is the best time to visit Dalhousie Springs, where the water temperature is 38°C. This group of 60 artesian thermal springs might be one of the most remote places in the book – sitting on the western fringe of the Simpson Desert – but is the perfect place to soak in warm waters after a long car ride. A true oasis.

Gorge

Maguk gorge, Northern Territory

The jewel in the crown of the Kakadu swimming spots, Maguk is a deep, wide gorge where sheer cliffs drop into what seems like a bottomless pool. Find a rocky platform to sit on in the sun, or jump from the ledges (though we didn’t tell you that).

The charm of Mildura is hidden in plain sight along the Sturt Highway. The capital of Tropical North Victoria is in a league of its own.

From the moment you arrive in Mildura , the warm air and palm trees invite you to slow down. While most Australians might drive right past it, Mildura is full of surprises. Here you’ll spend one day witnessing over 50,000 years of First Nations history in a UNESCO-listed National Park, and the next dining in a hatted restaurant after wandering through 12,500 fireflies as the outback sunset bursts to life above. From roadside fruit stalls and family-run wineries to houseboats and galleries, it’s time to explore Mildura.

Feast Street, at the heart of Langtree Avenue in Mildura. — Taste, wander and be surprised in Mildura.

Taste Mildura’s produce

It makes sense to start your trip by addressing the most important question: where to eat. In the beating heart of Australia’s food bowl, sample the local produce directly from the source. And then, of course, experience it through the menu of a hatted chef. Or sandwiched between pillowy slices of Nonna’s ciabatta.

Rows of orchards and olive groves invite you to spend the day traipsing from farm to farm. Taste olives propagated from Calabrian trees brought over in the 40s, oranges picked right from the tree and squeezed into juice and spoons full of honey . Bring the holiday back to your kitchen by stocking your pantry at roadside produce stalls, or calling into the ‘silver shed ’ (Sunraysia’s gourmand Mecca).

Thanks to the warm, balmy air and fertile soils, the wineries dotted along these hills produce award-winning local wines. Like Chalmers , a family-run, innovative winery dedicated to making their wines as sustainable as possible. And picturesque Trentham Estate offers views of the snaking Murray River as you sample their vintages.

Venture beyond the gnarled shadows of olive groves and fragrant rows of blossoming fruit trees and you’ll find an otherworldly side to Mildura. With Discover Mildura as your guide, visit Murray River Salt’s Mars-like stacks. The naturally pink salt is formed from an ancient inland sea and evaporated entirely by the sun to create one of the region’s most iconic exports.

Start your day with just-squeezed sunshine.

Hatted dining & Italian history

Mildura is home to a proud community of Calabrians and Sicilians. This, paired with the exceptional local produce, means that you can find paninos on par with those in Italy. The Italian is a Paninoteca serving up made-to-order, hefty, authentic Sicilian paninos. Nonna Rosa’s pork meatballs, slowly cooked in tomato ragu and served in a crusty, fluffy roll topped with gratings of Grana Padano cheese and salsa verde, will call you back to Mildura for the rest of your days.

To find hatted dining in Mildura, simply follow the staircase down into the basement of the historic Mildura Grand Hotel to find Stefano’s . Following the muscle memory and instinct of his Italian roots, he delivers on the principle of ‘cucina povera’. That is, the Italian cooking ideology that turns simple, local ingredients into magic.

Things to do in Mildura include dining at the acclaimed Stefano’s, where simple local ingredients are transformed into Italian culinary magic beneath the historic Grand Hotel. — Bite into Mildura’s Italian heritage.

Discover a thriving culture scene

The city is alive with culture. Whether it’s painted on the town’s walls, told in ancient yarns, or waiting for you in a gallery.

The Mildura Arts Centre was Australia’s first regional art gallery. Behind the walls of Rio Vista Historic House, you’ll find a lineup of ever-changing exhibitions. The gallery’s wall space pays tribute to the art and songlines of local First Nations People, the region’s awe-inspiring landscapes and more. Outside, on the gallery’s lawn, find 12 contemporary sculptures in the Sculpture Park.

Mildura’s streetscapes are a punch of colour. Swirling strokes of paint blend the winding artery of the Murray River, red dirt and local characters into a story you can see with your own eyes, thanks to the Mildura City Heart’s Mural Art Project . Pick up a copy of the Murals of Mildura guide from the Visitor Information Centre.

Follow the border of NSW and Victoria on a map and you’ll see it hugs the curves of a tiny island on the Murray. That’s Lock Island, where, as the sun and moon trade places, the island comes alive as darkness falls. The island is dotted with 12,500 firefly lights that lead you on a meandering path through the outback sunset. The installation is known as Trail of Lights and was created by the same visionary who dreamt up Field of Light at Uluṟu, Bruce Munro.

Things to do in Mildura include exploring its rich cultural scene. From vibrant street art and ancient stories to exhibitions at the Mildura Arts Centre, Australia’s first regional gallery. — Find culture around every corner.

Wonder at ancient landscapes

The landscapes of Mildura feel almost transcendental. The skyline bursts to life with reds, pinks, and deep, sparkly night skies.

The nature will leave you in awe. See hues of pink water changing with the weather at Pink Lakes inside Victoria’s largest national park, Murray Sunset National Oark. Cast a line into Ouyen Lake. Watch the sunset against 70-metre tall red cliffs that reflect the setting sun. Or get the heart racing and sandboard down the Perry Sandhills dunes, formed 40,000 years ago at the end of an ice age.

Just don’t leave without following the twists and turns of the Murray. Stroll or ride along the Shared River Front Path, or jump onboard a boat for a scenic ride.

Your itinerary will be incomplete without a visit to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Mungo National Park . Head out with an Indigenous ranger to witness ancient campsites and footprints, before standing in awe of ancient civilisation near the discovery site of Mungo Man—Australia’s oldest human skeleton at 42,000 years old.

Mungo National Park at night is a vast, silent landscape where ancient dunes glow under moonlight and stars blanket the sky in breathtaking clarity. — Walk in the footsteps of ancient civilisation.

Meet your home away from home

On equal par with planning your meals and adventures, is finding the perfect place to relax at the end of each day.

Sleep inside a Palm Springs postcard at Kar-Rama . A sleek boutique hotel complete with a butterfly shaped, sun-soaked pool. Here you’re staying right in the heart of Mildura but you’ll feel worlds away. Or if you really wish to connect with nature, a night glamping under the stars at Outback Almonds will have you spellbound.

When in Mildura it’s only right to stay on one of the Murray River’s iconic houseboats . Wake up each day to the calm waters of the Murray lapping outside your window. Enjoy days full of river swims, fishing and exploring. All boats are solar-powered and can be self-skippered or moored along the river.

A solar-powered houseboat on the Murray River in Mildura. — Stay and play on the Murray in a solar houseboat.

Start planning the perfect getaway at mildura.com .

Here are the best places to swim around Australia