The sun is shining, the air is heating up and it's so close to swimming season you can almost smell the salt and chlorine.
But if you're the sort of person who prefers to bob about in a pool rather than brave the breakers your options generally fall into one of two categories of public pools.
#1 The local pool, ideally with a diving board or waterslide.
#2 A hotel pool, ideally on a rooftop.
If you want to swim laps, get some cardio and bring the kids you want option one. But for high-class aquatic adventures you should definitely aim for a rooftop hotel pool. Last season it was all about the Old Clare Hotel, but they closed over winter and have yet to confirm their reopen date (rumours place it in around December).
But in bloody great news for people who love cocktails and swims in equal measure, the Intercontinental in Double Bay is opening its famously elegant rooftop pool to the public from October 1. That means you don't have to be a guest of the hotel to head upstairs and kick back on a striped sun lounge, have a dip in the aquamarine water, order up a cocktail and stare out over the harbour toward the city skyline. That is how you live your best life.
Need to get your gills wet sooner than that? Check out the best outdoor pools in Sydney.