{"id":794644,"date":"2026-07-12T02:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T02:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794644\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T02:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T02:31:13","slug":"braving-the-cold-dairy-news-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794644\/","title":{"rendered":"Braving the cold | Dairy News Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 300 people gathered at the Bulmer Street Jetty in Lakes Entrance before sunrise, to take part in Gippsland Jersey\u2019s annual winter solstice dip as part of the East Gippsland Winter Festival.<\/p>\n

What began years ago as a simple staff tradition has grown into a community event with a much bigger purpose – bringing people together to promote positive mental health and encourage conversations about wellbeing.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event attracted visitors from right across Gippsland and beyond, with many making the early morning trip to experience the icy plunge, warm hospitality and strong sense of community.<\/p>\n

Among those taking part was Darren Chester, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, alongside Melina Bath.<\/p>\n

Gippsland Jersey co-founder Sallie Jones said the event was inspired by the loss of her dairy farmer father, a dairy farmer, to suicide almost ten years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople know us as a dairy company, but we\u2019ve always believed we\u2019re about much more than milk,\u201d Ms Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create opportunities for people to connect, have conversations that matter and remind each other that no one has to face difficult seasons alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Liana Burns, Sallie Jones and Elisha Cunningham.<\/p>\n

Participants were encouraged to embrace the challenge of the cold water while reflecting on the importance of looking after both their physical and mental health.<\/p>\n

Following the dip, everyone gathered around open fires to enjoy hot savoury porridge made with local produce, chai, coffee and conversation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The winter solstice dip continues to grow each year reinforcing founder, Gippsland Jersey\u2019s belief, strong communities, meaningful connection and simple acts of courage can make a genuine difference.<\/p>\n

As participants assembled on the jetty, a rainbow appeared across the Gippsland Lakes\u2014an unexpected moment many described as the perfect symbol of hope after difficult seasons.<\/p>\n

The winter solstice dip continues to grow each year, reinforcing Gippsland Jersey\u2019s belief that strong communities, meaningful connection and simple acts of courage can make a genuine difference to people\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 300 people gathered at the Bulmer Street Jetty in Lakes Entrance before sunrise, to take part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-794644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}