Thousands of people have taken part in a nude swim in Hobart, braving icy conditions at sunrise for an annual event marking the winter solstice and the end of the city’s arts and food festival Dark Mofo.
The event took place at Long Beach on Monday morning, with participants stripping off as the sun rose at 7.42am and plunging into the River Derwent in cold temperatures.
The swim is part of the festival’s closing tradition and has been running since 2013 and at the time, the event only attracted around 300 people nearly and was almost cancelled after police warned of possible public indecency arrests.
Now, the event regularly attracts thousands, with 3,000 tickets quickly snapped up this year.
The water temperature was in the low teens, while the air was a much colder four degrees celsius, but that did not deter swimmers who gathered before dawn for a countdown marked by drumming and red flares.
Some stayed briefly before heading back to shore, while others swam further out to offshore pontoons more commonly used in summer.
Lifelong friends Di Webb and Lorette Mansfield travelled from Sarina in central Queensland for the swim, as part of their birthday celebrations, with the former celebrating her 60th, while the latter celebrated her 61st birthday.
“Lorette lost her husband last year and we said ‘let’s do it’. It was just a bit of a support for her,” Webb said.
“(The water) wasn’t as bad as I thought. Just invigorating. We ran straight in.”
For others, the swim was about marking the season and pushing through the cold.
Delyce Barba, who travelled from Launceston for her second year, said the solstice offered a sense of reset.
She described going “up to the tits” before heading back to shore, and shared some blunt advice for her group beforehand.
“I just said it’s going to be f****** cold. They were terrified this morning. But they were great,” she said.
First-time swimmer Cath Lim, from Queensland, joined a group wearing green frog onesies before stripping off for the dip.
“I loved it. My mum and her friends have come and I said ‘one year’. No regrets,” she said, adding that it got easier the longer she stayed in the water.
Beyond Hobart, similar winter solstice traditions have been held across Australia, including at Antarctic research stations where expeditioners cut ice holes to take part in the seasonal plunge.
Image: Discover Tasmania
