The swimming pool is synonymous with Australian summer, but for many of us they are more than just a place to cool off with a dip.

They can serve as a form of therapy, a training ground, or an essential connection with water for drought-struck communities.

Pubs with pools

A frosty beer while lounging poolside may sound like the perfect summertime activity.

In Darwin, where the weather remains within the 30 degree Celsius range year-round, it becomes a necessity.

Darwin has brought the two watering holes together — pubs and pools.

A string of clubhouses skirt its harbour, and although Darwin can not offer swimming at the beach a chlorinated option is available for visitors seeking a cool reprieve.

Lizzy McArdle is the manager of the Trailer Boat Club and said their club pool allows the community to connect with the water.

"Even from the pool you can still see our beautiful Darwin sunsets," she said.

The opportunity to have a beer in the pool has proven a drawcard for Darwin's Trailer Boat Club. ( Supplied: Lizzy McArdle )

"Of course glass is not allowed in the pool area, but we have a plastic option at hand so our visitors can have a dip and a drink."

Originally from London, Ms McArdle said having a pool in a hospitality venue was "a real novelty".

"It's incredibly hot and humid toward the end of the year and all you want to do is relax with a beer which you can't do in most public pools," she said.

Not just a place for a beer, the pool at the Trailer Boat Club is looking to run kids swimming lessons to cater to a broad cross-section. ( Supplied: Megan Cherry )

"We like to think we are ticking two boxes."

The club has been in operation for over 60 years and Ms McArdle said the community that continues to congregate around the pool are incredibly vibrant.

"We have people who call to make booking to swim in the pool. It's a very loved part of our clubhouse," she said.

"We are in the midst of searching for a swim instructor at the moment too so we can run kids swimming lessons, just to keep broadening the community that our pub's pool has to offer."

For others, a poolside bar requires leaving the kids at home and allowing for a DJ donned in floaties to mix the perfect vibe.

Ollie Howe is the Infinity pool bar manager at Darwin's Mindil Beach and said the pool bar is affectionately known around town as "Bali in Darwin".

The view of the sunset over the Arafura sea from the Mindil Beach Casino's Infinity pool bar has become a popular shot to capture and share on Instagram. ( Supplied: Mindil Beach Infinity bar )

"The infinity pool looks out over the Arafura sea. You can rest on the edge with a pina colada in a pineapple and listen to some tunes," he said.

Mr Howe admits the pool is a hot spot for Instagrammers travelling through Darwin.

The swim-up pool bar is one of the features that has helped earn the Infinity the reputation as a bit of 'Bali in Darwin'. ( Supplied: Mindil Beach Infinity bar )

"This is the best spot in Australia to watch a sunset. Everyone jumps into the pool around 6:30 at night and the colours of the sky change the appearance of the water," he said.

"I maybe have one too many photos on my phone of how amazing the sunset is reflecting off the water."

The iconic sunset shot at Mindil Beach Infinity pool bar. ( Supplied: Mindil Beach Infinity )

As the Darwin heat kicks it up a few notches in the build up and wet season, pools become a popular place to spend lazy afternoons.

"We trade right through the wet season, and even have people come down in shirts and ties who are tempted to jump in."

When it comes to raucous behaviour and pool parties, Mr Howe said those stories are trade secrets behind the bar.

"What happens in the infinity pool stays in the pool," he laughed.

The pool as therapy

When 76-year-old Narelle Flannagan joined the over-50s Learning Centre in Lismore 17 years ago, she had been keen to get involved with as many activities as possible.

Narelle Flannagan teaches two classes a week — one at Goonellabah's over-50s aqua aerobics club, and the other at St Vincent's Hospital pool. ( ABC North Coast: Leah White )

"I started going to the over-50s to learn yoga and I couldn't do that," Ms Flannagan said.

"I went from that to woodcarving.

"I then started going to the water aerobics, I really enjoyed doing that."

Ms Flannagan, who lives in the northern rivers of NSW, is a self-confessed water baby and enjoys aqua aerobics so much that she now teaches two classes a week as a volunteer.

The women-only, over-50s classes are so popular she can have up to 40 women in the water at a time.

"My reward is when I see somebody come and they can't even walk. Then about six weeks later they're moving around and just talking and enjoying the other ladies' company. As well as exercising," she said.

The aqua aerobics classes also provide a low-impact physical activity for those recovering from surgery. ( ABC North Coast: Leah White )

Ms Flannagan said there have been a couple of women with breast cancer and quite a few have had knee and hip replacement.

She believed it was the pool that kept them going physically and emotionally.

"A lot of the women live alone and the pool is key to their social and physical life," Ms Flannagan said.

Bob Phillips is a prostate cancer survivor, and his routine of two aqua aerobics classes a week at the Goonellabah pool for the past five years means it not only keeps him fit but creates social contact.

"I'm 91 years old and I lost my wife Gwen, so going to aqua aerobics gets me out of the house and meeting up with people," Mr Phillips said.

"There's not many men that go. I can share the pool with 15-24 women. Occasionally a couple of men come along. But it's okay with me."

Bob Phillips is not bothered that he is often the only man in attendance at his aqua aerobics class. ( ABC North Coast: Leah White )

His other passion is being a member of the Lismore Gem and Lapidary Club where there are plenty of male companions.

Mr Phillips said he needs to stay fit so he can keep fossicking for gemstones.

"I've got some nice sapphires over the years so need to stay in shape so I can get up and shake a pan," he said.

The natural pool with a unique 'energy'

Thousands of people visit the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland every year.

Most come to do the spectacular waterfall circuit and to swim in the cool, clean waters — from Millaa Millaa with its heritage listed 18-metre drop to Ellinjaa and the beautiful Zillie Falls.

Carina Platt, who runs River Song Retreat nearby and conducts yoga classes by the water, called the area Australia's hidden secret.

Carina Platt says there is a unique energy to the falls. ( Supplied: Carina Platt )

"The energy around here is amazing," Ms Platt said.

"People feel it straight away and become calm. It's like going to a day spa."

Ms Platt said more Australian tourists are coming from drought-affected areas.

"You can nearly see the tears in their eyes when they see the water," she said.

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The training pool for pearl divers

Public ocean pools fed by water straight from the sea are not uncommon in the beach suburbs of NSW, but in the north of Western Australia there is a backyard sea pool in Broome with a unique history.

Broome was built on the back of the pearling industry, and when Mick Coppens came to Broome to train as a young pearl diver he was sent to the extra-deep saltwater pool "behind the blue house by the bay".

"It's 3-metres deep most of the way along. The new divers coming into the industry would all have to be trained in this pool," Mr Coppens said.

Mick Coppens' unique pool in Broome was used to train the pearl divers that established its famous pearling industry. ( ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins )

Many years after training in the pool, he had the chance to buy that blue house and become the owner of Broome's most unusual pool.

When Broome's big tides are in, he tops up his very salty pool straight from the sea.

"I put chlorinators in to chlorinate it with the salt itself," Mr Coppens said.

"I suppose a bonus is that I'm not paying for the water. The drawback is my power bill is a bit excessive."

Part of what makes Mick's pool so unusual is its extra-deep three-metre depth. ( ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins )

Roebuck Bay is a Ramsar-listed wetland, and owning a beautiful sea pool right next door sometimes attracts the locals to pop in and just hang out.

"I've had a seagull in here. I've even had a sea eagle, an osprey in here, just sitting around doing nothing," he said.

The pool that takes hockey underwater

When driving through Kakadu National Park, signage at the edge of wetlands, creeks, and billabongs scream warnings of 'Do not swim' and 'Be crocwise'.

The locals thought the concept of underwater hockey was a little unusual when Denise first introduced it. ( Supplied: Jabiru Underwater Hockey Club )

In the park's unofficial capital of Jabiru however there are a select group of people who refuse to stay dry.

Donned in goggles, wetsuits, caps, and wielding wooden sticks, 12 residents dive to the bottom of the Jabiru pool every Tuesday evening.

They are the Jabiru Underwater Hockey Club.

Denise House, the team's coach, moved to Jabiru 18 months ago and said the first thing she went hunting for was a pool.

"I have been playing underwater hockey for roughly 25 years all across the country," she said.

"This sport has always been the hub of my social group. As soon as I arrived in Jabiru I contacted the pool immediately and I asked if I could start up the sport.

"At first, everyone thought it was a little weird. But this was an opportunity for me to add something new to our community."

Ms House described the Jabiru pool as an oasis in the otherwise dry community on the edge of Arnhem Land and said the pool has allowed her and her family to slot in perfectly.

Many players are shivering by the end of training in the dry season. ( ABC Radio Darwin: Jesse Thompson )

"We have introduced a whole new sport at the pool and it has become more popular, giving people an option to jump in and give it a go in an otherwise blisteringly-hot part of the country," she said.

Ms House said she is now hoping from this one small poolside club the sport will grow throughout the Territory.

"Wherever there is a pool there should be a hockey team. And Jabiru is testament to how a strange sport can pull the community together," she said.

Denise House moved to the community and made a beeline to its Olympic-sized swimming pool. ( ABC Radio Darwin: Jesse Thompson )

The pool that's shaped like Australia

The first party at Ted Egan's Australia-shaped pool, 1989. ( Supplied: Ted Egan )

"I'm into legacy," Ted Egan said, from the side of his home pool on the outskirts of Alice Springs.

Mr Egan is a folk musician and former administrator of the Northern Territory.

"I was just going to do normal Olympic-size pool, and do laps in it, but Nerys, my wife said, 'everyone has pools like that Ted, let's do something different'.

"So I said 'tell me'."

The pool Nerys Evans suggested to Ted was in the shape of Australia.

Mr Egan said it was simple enough to design the pool and thin strips of fibreglass were used to accommodate the unique shape.

"And Tasmanians are always complaining about being left off the map — why not do an Australia shaped pool with Tassie as the spa?" he said.

At 30 years old, the pool still gets plenty of use. ( ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher )

"We took a picture of Nerys in there with an umbrella when it was done, invited all of our friends to come visit.

"When we launched the house and the pool in 1989, we had 400 people here for 10 days and we had concerts and swimming and I think we drank 50 kegs of beer — it was unforgettable.

Mr Egan said, to his knowledge, he was the only person in Australia with an Australia-shaped pool.

Building a pool in the shape of Australia was Nerys' idea. ( Supplied: Ted Egan )

The pool is a family fixture for their nine grandkids and 13 great-grand children.

"They all love it, even in the middle of winter," Mr Egan said.

"I'm not a pool bloke, but having it is a great asset.

Mr Egan said the pool was a good way for kids to learn Australian geography. ( Supplied: Ted Egan )

"Nerys uses it more than me, but I certainly use it in summer — we all do, three or four times a day.

"We created it so you can dive from anywhere into Birdsville, it's the deepest spot in the pool, it's the aquatic centre of Australia now.

"It's a great geography lesson for kids, we say: 'Where's Geraldton? Where's Kununurra? Where's Sydney? Where's Adelaide?'

"We say, 'Alright, now swim from Darwin to Adelaide'. Easy — only takes you four strokes.

"It's certainly unique — thanks to Nerys for the bright idea."

Ted Egan and Nerys Evans in front of their pool. ( Supplied: Ted Egan )

Watch The Pool on ABC TV Sunday September 22 and 29 at 7:40pm, or on iview.