Are you going to take the plunge at Canberra's next hottest new attraction?

So it won’t be here in time for this winter, but plans for Canberra’s floating sauna have taken a big step forward.

The National Capital Authority (NCA) has opened up details on the location, design and even the materials for the new build to public feedback until 23 August, with construction to begin very shortly afterwards.

A floating pontoon, measuring 78.8 square metres, will jut out from Yarralumla Beach, opposite Black Mountain Peninsula, with a 10.5 metre-long gangway connecting it to the shore.

Two 4.2-metre-high wooden sauna rooms, accompanied by changing rooms and heated by fire, will then be built on the end of the pontoon.

Providence NDR won the tender for the project earlier this year, based on the success of one they run on Lake Derby in Tasmania.

“It’s basically a back-to-nature experience,” Providence NDR founder Nigel Reeves says.

“You’ll sit in a traditional Finnish-style wood-fired sauna, heated to about 32 degrees Celsius, and when you get uncomfortably hot, you jump into the cold water and – through that process – you’ll experience a big flow of endorphins and dopamine adrenaline.

“It is pretty conclusive that there are a lot of benefits, but one of the main ones is you’ll sleep really well afterwards.”

The technique of tapping into the body’s feel-good hormones by subjecting it to rapid and extreme temperature changes isn’t anything new. There are examples of it occurring in eastern European and Scandinavian countries for “thousands of years”.

Nigel, previously an advisor in the Tasmanian parliament, came up with the idea after mountain biking with his children.

“I basically felt there was an opportunity to have a business that gave people some respite to be able to walk the next day after mountain biking with their teenage children.”

North-east Tasmania, as a “big mountain-biking area”, served as the perfect location to debut his idea. Lake Derby Floating Sauna opened in 2020 and has gone onto attract just as many avid followers on social media as many of the state’s other institutions.

The sauna seats up to ten people and costs $45 for a one-hour shared session or $225 to have the place to yourself and five other friends.

Nigel says, “Canberra wasn’t on the radar at all” until he saw the local love for Lake Burley Griffin – even if it was love at a distance for many.

“Yes, there’s some local opinion about how the blue-green algae affects the quality of the water, but when you actually look at the data, it’s really not that bad.

“[The floating sauna] will be something different than going to a museum or some of the other attractions in Canberra, adding a bit of depth to the local tourism experience. And there are so many bike riders and walkers in Canberra pursuing a more back-to-nature lifestyle.

“You could be sitting in the middle of a lake somewhere in Croatia. It’s a stunning location.”

He says Canberra’s sauna won’t be a “complex structure”, as there’s no need for electricity or internet connections, but with two rooms and space for changing, it will be double the size of Lake Derby’s.

“There’s a science to having a good sauna experience. You need it really nice and hot throughout the session, so it becomes about the number of times the door has to open and close.”

As with Lake Derby, people will be able to book a session online, and the site will be equipped with its own lifeguard, or ‘sauna master’.

“Sometimes people just need a bit of encouragement to jump in, and having someone there who can say it’s safe helps.”

Construction is set to start shortly after public consultation ends on 23 August, and Nigel has “already sold several gift vouchers”.

Detailed information on the proposal – including a description of the works, location map, and details of its design and construction – is available at www.nca.gov.au. Feedback is invited by 5 pm, Friday, 23 August, by email to WAconsultation@nca.gov.au.