Wild winter swimming - would you take the plunge?

Amanda Warriner stands at the water’s edge. It’s winter and there’s that bite in the air; the type of cold that causes your breath to materialise in front of your eyes. She’s wearing booties and gloves made from neoprene to protect her hands from the extreme pain that she'll feel in them when she first hits the single-digit water. The rest of her body, though, is dressed as if for a day at the beach, as she wears her swimmers after changing out of her hiking gear. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and plunges in.

Amanda took up hiking in 2015 and wild swimming two years after that. She fell into both by accident. The love of hiking sprang up suddenly after going on a couple of short family visits to Belmore and Carrington Falls and a couple of bush walks where she found herself totally and utterly hooked. Hiking is one thing. Walking 18 kilometres in a day, carrying 15 kilos or more can all be learnt, the hard way if necessary. But taking that first step into the unknown of a wild waterhole is another thing entirely.

There was something about that feeling of not knowing what lay at the bottom of the waterhole and the idea of a cold dip on a cold day that had previously stopped her from taking the plunge mid-hike. It wasn’t until she started hiking with a bushwalking group from Sydney and was introduced to a little-known swimming hole in the Royal National Park that she found she could no longer say no. “It looked too beautiful to resist, so I went in. And like hiking, I was hooked instantly. I can’t put my finger on why. It just felt good,” she says.

Science has been telling us for a while now, just how good time in nature is. And studies have show immersion in cold water to have positive effects on our immune system, reducing inflammation, improving metabolic function, circulation and mood. (As with all adventures, there are benefits and risks.)

Amanda noticed that her recurrent eczema, a painful, itchy problem for years, started to clear after that first dip. She says, “It was probably just a coincidence but it was enough to win me over to the idea of dunking myself regularly in beautiful, natural waterholes and creeks.” Coincidence or not, as winter rolled around and she stopped her wild plunges, her eczema started to return.

And so now she swims year round, even if for decidedly shorter periods in the colder months. “I’m most at home when I’m immersed in nature and I guess that is as immersed as it gets.”

Amanda's top 3 well-known and easily accessible natural swimming spots in the Illawarra are:

1. Budderoo National Park

Here there is beautiful Nellie’s Glen, Blue Pool and you can also have a dip in the Kangaroo River above the falls.

2. Royal National Park

Karloo Pool, Wattamolla Lagoon, Curracurrong Creek at Eagle Rock, Winifred Falls and Deer Pool. All are great for a weekday when the park is a little quieter.

3. Macquarie Pass

NPWS have closed the track to Jump Rock, however, the Cascades track is still open. Great for families.

The rest are staying secret! It’s more fun when you stumble across them yourself.