Plunge for a Cause: Cold Nips Australian Tour heads to Kununurra and Broome for mental health fundraiser

They have cooled off in Cairns, waded in Wollongong and even taken a sunrise plunge in Port Augusta. Now the Kimberley is the latest stop for the Cold Nips Australian Tour which aims to conduct 100 sunrise dips in 100 days with thousands of other water lovers to raise $1million for mental health. Cold Nips co-founder Jian Wong Yen’s next dip is at Swim Beach Kununurra at 5.45am on Friday, followed by Cable Beach, Broome on Saturday. He is hoping he doesn’t experience a literal nip during his first dip in the Kimberley. “There is a freshwater crocodile at Swim Beach I have heard, hopefully no salties, we have been told that is very, very uncommon and there will be signs if it is not safe,” he said. In Broome, nature will have another obstacle in store for Mr Wong Yen’s 100-dip quest, namely a low-tide of -3.7m at Cable Beach on Saturday at sunrise, which would require bathers to trek several hundred metres to reach the shore line. “In Broome we will be running an ice bath session at Cable Beach instead. It will be a very refreshing way to start the day,” he said. It will also be just a short, shivery trot to a cafe for a hot coffee. Mr Wong Yen’s Cold Nips Australia Tour is the latest chapter in a journey he began five years ago with mate Ryan Linton in Perth, when they decided to start taking chilly dips at sunrise each Wednesday at Cottesloe Beach. The weekly ritual soon developed a cult following. “We found after five weeks, there was 250 people in front of us,” Mr Wong Yen said. “We did a bit of head scratching and decided there was something missing and that this was something people and the community can benefit from. We broke that down to five values, which was chasing connection, discomfort, meaning, joy and being out in nature.” For the past five years the pair have organised weekly Wednesday sunrise swims at different Perth beaches only revealing the next location on the Sunday before. “The idea is simple, just to get people down for a sunrise swim in a, I guess, authentic and raw way to connect and embody those values, and then get a coffee afterwards and set people up for good start for the day.” They have now exported the idea to other Australian cities with Cold Nips in Sydney, the Gold Coast and plans to also conduct them on the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne. All money raised on the Cold Nips Australian Tour will go to the Happiness Co Foundation. The Cold Nips tour will travel south along the WA coast and finish at Scarborough Beach for the 100 dip, scheduled for November 9. To find out more go to https://cold-nips-100-dips.raiselysite.com/