31/08/2026
Nine years. What an adventure. đź’™
Nine years ago, I packed up my life in Brisbane and headed west to Quilpie, excited about what was ahead but really having no idea what this adventure would bring.
I came here to run a swimming pool — but even before I arrived, I had made a decision that was much bigger than that.
I was moving to Quilpie to make it my home.
And somewhere along the way, that is exactly what happened.
For almost nine years, the Quilpie Swimming Pool has been an enormous part of my life, and one of the greatest privileges has been watching a whole generation of little people grow up around the pool.
Some started as tiny, nervous swimmers learning the very basics. Over the years I’ve watched their confidence and swimming skills grow, watched them move through lessons, Swim Club and carnivals, and watched little kids turn into not-so-little kids.
To have been able to play a part in that journey over nine years is something I will always treasure.
And there has certainly been plenty happening along the way!
Learn to swim, Swim Club, swimming carnivals, swim clinics, Senior Aqua, Aqua classes, Australia Day pool parties, Halloween events, movie nights, activity days and more events and programs than I could probably list or even remember.
There has been a LOT of laughter, plenty of fun and some absolute chaos mixed in with the challenges.
Because nine years of running a remote western Queensland swimming pool was never going to be without a few challenges!
We’ve operated through drought, COVID, extreme western Queensland summers, ridiculous temperatures, staffing challenges and all the realities that come with keeping an aquatic facility operating safely in a small remote community.
There have been days that tested us, days that exhausted us and days where you simply had to find a way to make things work.
But there were far more days filled with laughter, people, kids, conversations and moments that reminded me exactly why we did it.
I have also been incredibly lucky with the people who have worked alongside me.
Some staff came for a season or a short time, while others became part of the furniture.
Tina – 9 years.
Bec – 8½ years.
Cooper – 7 years.
That sort of loyalty doesn’t happen everywhere, particularly in a small remote town, and I will always be grateful for the contribution every staff member has made along the way.
Running a community swimming pool has always been about servicing the community, but it also comes with an enormous responsibility.
For nine years I have constantly managed that fine line between creating a welcoming, fun place for everyone and ensuring the industry standards and safety requirements we operate under are met.
Sometimes that has meant having to draw a line.
There have been occasions where patron behaviour has meant difficult conversations, restrictions or decisions that haven’t always been popular.
Those decisions were never about stopping someone from enjoying the pool or keeping people away.
They were about identifying behaviours that could put other patrons, children or staff at risk and fulfilling the responsibility that comes with operating an aquatic facility.
When you’re responsible for the safety of everyone who walks through those gates, sometimes you have to make the difficult call — even when you know it won’t make you popular.
But those moments are only a very small part of nine incredible years.
What I will remember most are the kids proudly showing me something they finally mastered. The laughter coming from the pool. The regulars walking through the gate. The conversations at the counter. The families spending an afternoon together. The Aqua crew. The Swim Club families. The carnivals. The events. And all those ordinary days at the pool that, looking back now, weren’t really ordinary at all.
When I left Brisbane nine years ago, I thought I was heading west for an exciting unknown adventure.
I certainly found one.
But somewhere in that adventure, I also built a life.
I built other businesses. I found some awesome friends. I found my place in this community. I made Quilpie home.
So while this is the end of my time running the Quilpie Swimming Pool, it is definitely not goodbye to Quilpie.
I’m not leaving. I’m just pivoting.
I’m moving into a new chapter of my life.
And perhaps for the first time in a very long time, I’m starting to think a little differently about what I want that life to look like.
A life with a little more time to focus on my own health and wellbeing.
More time with the awesome friends I have made here.
More time to head back east and spend with my elderly mum — because I am increasingly conscious that time is something we don’t get back.
More time with my brother and his family, particularly my nieces and nephew, who somehow seem to be growing up far too quickly and are now starting to enter adulthood and build lives of their own.
More time with my animals.
More time for the other businesses and ideas I’ve built — and probably a few new adventures I haven’t thought of yet.
And maybe, after spending so many years looking after facilities, businesses, staff, swimmers and everyone else, a little more time to simply live the life I’ve worked so hard to create.
As this chapter comes to an end, I leave incredibly proud of what we have delivered and grateful to everyone who has been part of it.
To every staff member who has worked beside me, every parent who trusted us with their children, every swimmer who kept trying, every Aqua participant who turned up, every volunteer, every Swim Club family, every visitor and every person who simply came through those gates for a swim — thank you.
Nine years ago I moved to Quilpie for an unknown adventure.
Today, I get to look around and realise that somewhere along the way, Quilpie became home.
The pool was a huge chapter of that story.
Now it’s simply time to turn the page.
2017–2026.
Nine years.
One little western Queensland pool.
Thousands of memories.
And one hell of an adventure. đź’™
I’m not leaving. I’m just making room for what comes next.
Here’s to the next chapter.
