Photo of Top Pool taken in the year 2007.
Top Pool has long been known as a popular swimming spot, but sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s the council filled much of the pool with rocks to discourage people from swimming there, reportedly because of safety concerns. For a time, the strategy worked and the pool became considerably shallower.
Over the years, however, storms and strong river flows have gradually washed away some of the rocks, making Top Pool suitable for swimming once again. Even so, it remains some way from its glory days, when it was regarded as one of the deepest swimming holes in Wainuiomata. People once jumped from the bank and even from trees growing above it, something that would not be advisable today, as the pool is no longer deep enough.
