Aussielicious

Over the years I’ve heard some good things about Helsinki. Sadly it’s not somewhere I’ve managed to see yet, but given I haven’t travelled anywhere near as much as I would like, that’s no surprise. Wandering around the world wide web during my lunch today I stumbled across this gem, called Yrjonkadun Uimahalli from the 1920′s tucked away in Helsinki and for the nudists amongst us, it’s hanging on dearly to it’s old fashioned ways.

Over four floors, this pool is open on separate days for different genders and up until recently, nude swimming was mandatory, not optional. If you dared wear swimwear you used to be escorted out of the premises. Now they are a little more relaxed but from what I can find online, nudity is still the preferred choice!

You can hire a personal change room or a private cabin with bathrobe, sauna seat cover and bed, where you can relax and soak up the “Serene Roman baths atmosphere” while you order from the cafe menu. Sounds pretty darned good to me!

As someone that learnt to swim at the age of 3 and spent most of my summer existence in or near the water, and someone that loves photography, it’s only natural that I want to try underwater photography. But the investment in equipment is a bit out of my range at this point. Who knows, maybe I’ll save for a small digital snappy underwater camera to dabble but for now I’ll content myself with looking at other beautiful imagery shot by others.

I found Valdes Art House today with these beautiful images of people swimming. Water instantly relaxes me, just the sheer power and rhythmical nature of it’s movements almost hypnotise me.

It’s taken some time but I finally understand the appeal of the new full length speed suits that competitive swimmers are using. They have to be worn tight. Really tight. Ricky Berens on the U.S. team at the FINA World Championships in Rome was wearing his moments prior to racing in a relay and bent over for a drink of water. Suddenly he felt a draught. Thankfully for all of us, his team mate urged him to ignore the tear and just swim as there wasn’t time to change. Oh to have been his team mates or an official standing behind the blocks as he stood ready to dive.

Apparently the suits are tearing quite frequently because of how tight they are being worn. Now I’m just trying to picture someone doing one of those amazing backstroke starts, arching out of the water and…. RIP!

Heading into winter I’m dying to go and soak for hours at the ginseng baths here in Sydney, but apparently the men’s section still isn’t open. I hope it’s open soon, as it’s one of the most relaxing things to do on a cold winters day and I still get my fix of being nude.

Today has been very busy and a little stressful at work and I think the rest of the week is going to be the same so I’m about to hop under a long hot shower and de-stress. Being in water, whether it’s the shower or bath or even in a pool, is like hitting a button the helps me wind down. It’s one of the things I get from my mother. Training at the gym of a morning and going to work from there means I also don’t get to do my full skin care regime, not that it’s lengthy, but tonight i’ll pamper myself a bit.

As I posted before, on Friday night I’m shooting a guy nude at one of Sydney’s ocean pools, which I’m really looking forward to. This summer I’ve been trying to find the right combination of free time, good weather and practicality to go for a nude swim one night but the planets haven’t aligned with my moon and it’s not happened. So after the shoot on Friday night, I’ll definitely be stripping off and having a skinny dip. I don’t know if I’ll get away with videoing this shoot, but I’ll check with the model and get back to you.

It’s intriguing to people watch at the best of times, but on a nude beach it’s even more interesting. People say that all class distinction disappears when everyone is naked and to an extent that’s true, but you start to notice all sorts of other things, like pubic grooming habits, tan lines etc.

One thing that I find interesting is when you see guys who lie on the beach naked but put their swimming costume on to go into the water. I can slightly understand the guys that do it the other way around, they might like tan lines, but why deny yourself the pleasure of swimming naked? To feel the water caress your entire body. It’s one of life’s simplest but most irresistable pleasures.

I’m still a bit cloudy from the vodka last night and not enough sleep. So I’ll have to attempt to write something more profound later this afternoon, or maybe I’ll just write some more random stuff. This blog isn’t one of those carefully planned strategic things. It pretty much represents my thought patterns, which for the most part are a bit random and largely occupied with thoughts of hot naked men.

Something I have picked up from my mother, other than matching my wardrobe all the time, is a theraputic connection with water. If I’m stressed, a good soak in a shower, pool, bath, or ocean is just what I need. I think I’ll have a shower tonight before bed. I’m feeling a bit run down and tired at the moment and it will help me switch off before bed.

I don’t know that you’d want to swim too close to the guy on the far left given that he’s actually peeing in the water, but that water does look inviting.