Experience a Full Danish Sauna Ritual at Northcote’s Sauna Goose

Melbourne has plenty of hot rooms where you can work up a sweat, but few places replicating the full woodfired Nordic sauna experience.

Sauna Goose is here to change that.

After relying on saunas to survive the winters in Copenhagen, founders Cara Sealey and Simon Kelada-Polupanov found a way to bring the Danish “saunagus” ritual home with them. Led by a gusmester (sauna master), the practice sees water and essential oils poured over the sauna’s hot stones, unleashing clouds of fragrant steam. Working to music, the gusmester wafts the steam towards bathers in rhythmic motions, and sometimes leads a meditation.

Sauna Goose offers two types of sessions: guided or unguided. The unguided option allows for quiet introspection and maximum relaxation, while the guided option involves the full saunagus ritual. Both follow a structure of 10 minutes in, 10 minutes out, to ensure you enjoy the heat safely. In the breaks, a seven-degree cold plunge is available to those looking to reap the health benefits of hot and cold therapy: improved circulation, reduced inflammation, mental clarity, boosted energy and even increased metabolism.

A landscape architect by trade, Sealey designed the space herself. A focus on wood, raw materials, and eclectic second-hand finds gives the sauna and its surrounding lot a cosy, low-pressure feel. The sauna is just one feature – there’s also a firepit, communal seating and a veggie patch to gather, slow down and connect around.

“We don’t want people to rush off,” Sealey tells Broadsheet. “Come as you are and stay.”

For the duo, wellness isn’t an in-and-out-in-45-minutes job. Their approach to wellbeing is holistic, acknowledging that health can be measured not only physically, but also mentally, socially and spiritually. They emphasise that the whole experience shouldn’t be exclusive, either. The lot is open for the local community to pass through and have a chat, be it “people walking their dogs or with kids on scooters”. Plus, accessibility measures like gender-neutral bathrooms and handrails in the sauna make Sauna Goose a place that welcomes anyone and everyone.

Sauna Goose
Gadd Street, Northcote
No phone

Hours
Mon to Fri 7am–7.40pm
Sat 9.30am–1pm
Sun 3pm–6.30pm

saunagoose.com
instagram.com/sauna.goose