The Big Float Merimbula

27 Jan The Big Float Merimbula

The Big Float Merimbula stops for no one! Does anyone know what to call 26 January anymore? Is it Australia Day, Division Day or Survival Day? But whether or not you agree that the Australia Day public holiday should be moved to a day that is more inclusive to everyone, the Big Float Merimbula, is a bit of an institution.

The Big Float 2023

It really was huge this year. People who have watched it every year since its inception agreed that there were many more people participating this year. So, what is the Big Float? It is a yearly ritual of gathering around the banks around and on Merimbula Bridge. When the tide starts to flow out to the Bar tourists and locals alike launch a diverse range of floatation devices into the lake to float across the lake to Spencer Park on the northern shores of the lake.

If you are familiar with the delightful sensations of spending time close to the surface of a body of water, you will have some understanding of how peaceful and wonderful this experience can be. When you multiply this by thousands of people in a huge array of colourful and ingenious floatation devices, all floating at the same time, you will be in the ballpark of the kind of fun offered by the Big Float Merimbula.

How to get the details?

The event is not widely publicised on social media. And it does not have its own website. So word of mouth is a good way to get a sense of what time people will gather to do the Big Float.

The fact that the event is publicised as being ‘unofficial’ is a good way to reduce the culpability of authorities if something is to go awry.

Jumping off the bridge into the water and floating along with the tide to Spencer Park does come with some risks it would seem. But it also seems to be the kind of larrikin spirit of Australians to do something like this.

And it is a lot of fun!