A lot of Aucklanders of my generation have memories of sneaking in here on hot summer nights. It…read morewas just the best thing to enjoy this huge pool after dark without the crowds. There was usually at least one other group but that's ok, we were bonded in the knowledge of our tresspass. Nowadays you'd be lucky to ever find this place on the quiet side but I love that it's cold - usually the coldest public pool you can find when Auckland's heat kicks in. There's a nice high diving board for bombs, frolicking space and lanes. There's a spa as well if you come in the chillier months and no doubt they heat the pool a bit too. You can find yourself a shady spot on the grass, kick back and let the kids run wild. There's even a playground. Like I said, it does get crazy busy and the parking can be a drama but this place just feels like Summer holidays.

Pool is great, atmosphere is awesome but the communication between the staff is CRAP! was told $30…read moreto book 2 tables for my daughters birthday but ended up costing me $75 and all i got was a "sorry please check prices next time as the communication between receptionists isnt very good" Chose this pool as a cheap option for a bday party but actually ended up being the most expensive place that i looked at! Wont be going back as i dont think my complaint was taken very seriously and dont want to deal with the crap customer service anymore.

The Manurewa Aquatic Centre has been around for several years now and was a much-needed upgrade for…read morethe area. It's located at Mountfort Park and it's hard to miss off the main road. It's a great facility and, living a two minute walk from here, I know that this place is popular all-year round. The aquatic centre boasts five pools, one of them being Manukau's first deep water pool, perfect for water polo and all other deep water sports I'd never dare to try (I'm definitely not a swimmer). Entry to the pools are free, but there's a great range of paid extras you can go for like the spa and sauna. The pools close relatively early but for a small fee you can stay later, which is ideal if you like swimming in peace, because this place gets busy. I've only visited the aquatic centre a handful of times, despite living so close. I prefer the pools in the winter when it's not so packed. You get some serious swimmers here so beware of accidently floating into someone's lane! I learnt that one the hard way. I've taken some younger cousins here on a couple of afternoon and I didn't swim, but the spectator seats here are great and you get a view of all the pools so there's no blind spot to worry about. There's a cafe on-site aswell if the hunger strikes, but I usually bring my own food when I come here or practice patience until I'm home. I really like the changing room facilities here; they're modern, spacious and well-looked after considering how much foot traffic comes through. The Manurewa Aquatic Centre is great for families with their range of swimming pools, and give adults the extra option of chilling out in the spa and sauna for some alone time. The Community Gyms fitness centre is here aswell, so the aquatic is great for that post-workout swim or sauna! A great addition to the Manurewa community and its as popular as ever.

Great pool and gym with childcare on site. Reasonable sized parking lot although it is usually 90%…read morefull. Large clean change rooms with a seperate caregiver changeroom that has private shower rooms equipped with change tables! Staff are always friendly and helpful. Call beforehand to check if the pools are prebooked for swimming lessons.

I have only visited Takapuna North Shore Leisure once with the little one, and his play friend for…read morea swim. I liked that there was lots of space in the car park for us to find a spot, and that this came free with the use of the centre. Also opposite the entrance is a child care should you need some help whilst using the pools. On this day however I was there for the boy, so I was happy not to use this pay service. The fee to use the pools for a mother and child is only a few dollars, and the staff were happy to give me the rundown of the pools (a pool for the little kids, and one for swimming laps) and also the location of the changing rooms, etc. I do prefer the little kid's pool at Birkenhead a little bit more as it seems a lot bigger with more space for all the little swimmers to enjoy. There is even a hot pool spa outside in the sun which I thought would be perfect next visit.

I can not believe I had not been to the leisure centre sooner. Honestly its got alot going on in…read morethere. There is a Les Mills Gym, a large swimming pool, a spa pool, some saunas, and even a dive pool with diving boards. I had a visit during the week, before lunch time, so the toddlers pool was booked out with a swim group, so we were offered the fun section of the big pool we just had to share it with some swimmers, which was not a problem at all. The water was a lot cooler than the toddlers pool would have been but my little guy is obsessed with water so that was not a problem. There were a few lifeguards on duty, who were looking after us all, and although a large amount of little seven year old's did show up for weekly sports class, we seemed to all just co exist in the space happily. I am yet to enquire about the gym on site which I think would be so convenient for mums with little children as they have a creche that is connected to the whole complex, talk about convenience. Car park space outside is close to the leisure centre and is also all free to park in if you are using the facilities. The changing rooms, are big enough to have a quick change and the showers were clean, although I think jandals should always be essential in public showers, just a tip. I will be back for sure, as I love the fact that I get to relax and enjoy a swim with my child and we both benefit from it.

Went to use the pools today...Haven't been to this place for about 10 years. I guess that's why its…read more$6.70 for a swim and no longer $2.50. Anyway, its exactly how I remember it. Nothing has changed much. There are slides, diving boards, steam rooms, saunas, pools with lanes and a kiddie pool. I love how you no longer have to pay to use the lockers.... You just need to bring your own lock and key. They probably change this because things use to get stolen all the times. So make sure you bring a lock! Another thing that has changed is that It seems like this place has become the ultimate hang out for old asian people during the working week. I am quite shy with walking around naked in the change rooms, but the old asian ladies are not, just a warning!

The Massy Park Aquatic Centre is always packed. It's home to the SwimMagic swim school which has…read moreclasses for toddlers through to adults and pregnant mums; they have an after school and holiday programme; and this place attracts families every weekend. They've got neat little pools for younger kids and some very cool water features and a mini playground in the area. There's hydroslide and bigger indoor pool for the older pre-teen crowd, while the big outdoor pool is great for lazing about and doing a few laps. The steam room and sauna are also available at a small cost. While I'm not much of a swimmer, I'm a fan of their big outdoor pool- its a little less packed than it can get inside and there's easy access to the cafe if you get peckish. The changing rooms here are quite spacious and I can safely say from experience that you won't find many shy people here- but there are cubicles if you aren't feeling too bold on the day!

This pool is amazing!! Really!!! I certainly took the pool for granted when I lived in Auckland!…read more I am from New York, but lived in Auckland for two years while getting my Masters degree. In those two years I adopted swimming as my preferred fitness activity. I went to the pool whenever I was stressed or sad or bored, and within minutes of entering the pool, I was as happy as I could ever be. This pool has soooo many things you can't find in New York: - As a student, it only cost me $5 or so to pop by for a swim. Almost every pool (aside from the dingy pools) in New York require membership just to be able to walk into the facility. And even the dingy pools require membership outside of Summer. - It's a 50 meter pool. You would be surprised how rare that is. - It has a kiddie pool, hot tub, jacuzzi, steam room, TWO saunas, a cafe, a gym, fitness classes, SCUBA CLASSES (!!!) an incredible locker room with curtains AND hot water.... really just incredible facilities. Nothing in New York comes close to that. Not even remotely. - The price is absolutely insane. Again, I only paid $5 to swim, and they don't force you to get a membership or anything. The only establishment that I've been to that comes close to this pool is Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. But a day pass is $50 USD (So maybe $60 NZD.... just for the day). Yearly membership for the pool alone is over $600. I would do anything to be able to go back to this pool. Count your lucky stars, Aucklanders!!!! ;)

Sometimes if we have kid-free time at the weekend and are feeling righteous we use the gym here…read morebefore having a swim. I like it when gyms aren't painful about casual visitors and the ones run by Auckland City Council are really a bargain. We had a good time here as we usually work out without machines so each time we're in a new gym it's all new and exciting. Which is a really helpful feeling to have about exercise. Don't come here though if you're a complete novice; the staff are more interested in posing than assisting the clients. Which is fine with us. There's probably more cardio machines here than I've seen anywhere else along with everything else you might need; weights, kettle bells, Swiss balls, stretching mats... This place is the ideal set-up because it really has everything; there's a cafe, creche, sauna, group fitness and personal trainers, nutritionist and physio all on site. And what's left of the original building's character is beautiful. Aucklanders of my vintage will remember when the Newmarket Pool was the place to go in summer and hang out on the concrete terraces in the sunshine. It's now of course covered in but they did the best job they could retaining the building's Deco character. It's a pretty busy pool and there's no dedicated "frolicking" area so you need to avoid the serious swimmers if you're just in for a dip. The curved spa at the end gets crazy crowded which is less than relaxing but that's what you get in the populated areas. The changing rooms here have some interesting features, particularly the strips of clear glass at strategic height in the showers. So you can have a moderate level of privacy but not for the body parts where you really it. My husband has a hilarious story about one of our visits involving a clearly very body-confident man hoisting his leg up on a bench to blowdry his nether regions - yes with the hairdryer. Personal space being at a premium when it's busy it was apparently quite an eyeful. Not sure this is a selling point but it's certainly bloody funny.

Having spent the first 18 years of my life living in Onehunga, Jellicoe Pools were our local…read more Sheesh were they rough though. Happily, Jellicoe has had several makeovers in the intervening years between my own childhood and my children's, and is the current most favourite due to its "really high" diving board. Ain't nothing makes a bigger bomb than a "really high" diving board. I couldn't tell you just how high it is but suffice to say you won't see me jumping off it. This summer we have really taken advantage of the outdoor pool. Sure, it's not heated and for me that's the whole point. The new generation of kids is so used to having the chill taken off that they risk missing out on that heartstopping moment of diving into a properly cold pool on a hot day - bliss. The outdoor pool is also where the diving boards are at (there's a low one too), along with picnic tables sheltered under nice big brollies, a slide and a little baby pool. I really appreciate that the bulk of the outdoor pool is for frolicking and none of this serious going up and down business that can take the fun out of public pools (although yes there are some lanes where you can go up and down if you want to). Inside there's a heated pool, an even warmer toddler pool and then behind a gate an adults-only area with spa, sauna and steam room. The changing facilities are pretty basic in the usual public pool not-flash way so it's not the kind of place you want to be getting ready for work post-swim in the morning. There's the typical swimming related stuff for sale and a small shop with a hot drink machine that sells treats and snacks including hot chips which just taste so much better after a swim. There's also a gym attached which allows members access to the pool as part of their membership. It's not expensive to go just for a swim anyway and if your kid likes to bomb big-styles, this is the place!

I visit OWMP's pool and spa quite often. It seems to me that everything is kept clean and in good…read morecondition, and the service is ok. Maybe the thing worth mentioning to someone who hasn't been there, is that the spa actually closes around 8:15pm, not 9pm as it says on their website. They turn the sauna and steam rooms off around that time, and then pretty much ask you to leave at 8:45pm. Last time I was there a couple of people had arrived at 8 to the spa, and they were quite dissapointed to learn that they only had about 15mins of "bang for their buck". I don't blame the employees for this: they are kids, and probably get paid very little. But I do believe that the correct way to go about it would be for the centre to advertise the correct hours on their website. All in all a good place, just keep in mind that it cloes at 8:15pm, not 9pm as it says on their website.

I decided to take my one year old to my local swimming pools called Osborne Pools within the North…read moreShore Leisure centre in Birkenhead. I paid my fee to the ticket office at the adjoining indoor rock climbing centre, turned out to be about four dollars and twenty cents admission, I could enter free as my toddlers caregiver. You can also pay direct at the pools ticket office, as a first timer I found this out after. The pools have an outdoor pool which is around thirty metres long, perfect for doing laps, or having a casual swim with family or friends. It was the school holidays so the pool was packed, felt assured of everyone's safety by the four onsite lifeguards working. The indoor pool is also heated to about thirty degrees and is perfect for teaching the young to swim, there is paddling boards, and lots of water play toys for the kids to enjoy. After two hours in the pool you can reward yourself with a refreshing warm or cold rinse off in the bathroom facilities, which also has a baby change table. A cool way to spend a summers day with the kid.

The big pool is outdoor wich is cold in winters. indoor pool is ok but a bit small…read more but whole facility is in good condition and very handy for birkenhead residences.