Saunas, sledding and empty shores: Guardian Australia staff’s favourite east coast winter breaks

Located in the little northern Tasmanian town of Derby, 'you will never forget' the Floating Sauna, writes Cait Kelly. Photograph: Jason Charles Hill/Tourism Tasmania

New South Wales

Take the plunge in Sydney’s ocean pools
It’s a truth universally unacknowledged that in winter, the ocean temperature in Sydney is often warmer than the air (and certainly warmer than the inside of our poorly insulated homes). So when the days turn crisp and the tourists dissipate, I like to squeeze into my swimming wetsuit and neoprene bathing cap, pop in my earplugs (to stave off surfer’s ear) and slide into one of the city’s 30 or so ocean pools, which extend from Palm beach in the north to Cronulla in the south.