Standing on the banks of the Menindee Lakes more than 1,000 kilometres west of Sydney, Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers is taken aback by the amount of water in front of him.

"It's a bit of a shock coming from red dirt, not much going on, and then there's this beautiful lake here," he said.

It has been 14 years since the seven-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist had travelled to outback New South Wales after last competing at a swimming race there as a teenager.

"I didn't know there was water so close to Broken Hill," he said.

Dozens of local swimmers from the area drove more than 100 kilometres just to get a chance to see, meet and hit the water with the 27-year-old.

"It's a shame I couldn't race in it because I've just had ankle surgery, but it was cool to be out there on the

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