In The Pursuit Of Happiness, Go By Boat

Taking note from my published book, ‘Honey, let’s buy a boat,’ I want to tell you all the reasons that buying a boat is the best way to go in the pursuit of happiness.

Australia is an island. We are surrounded by water, a lot of water in every direction. We are truly the lucky country when it comes to waterways, with some of the best navigable and cleanest waters in the world.

Right now there are over 1.6 million people boating on rivers, lakes and oceans around Australia. They must be onto something!

Most of us have driven to a marina or the local boat ramp with fish n’ chips in hand, and parked the car to watch the boats and all the activity surrounding them. No matter your age, it’s truly fascinating – us landlubbers have a real curiosity with the water.

Perhaps it’s that little voice inside our head that says ‘I wouldn’t mind doing that,’ or watching the kids grab the ropes to help out, families working together as a team and great mates having a good laugh together. Even just watching people live on a larger boat, thinking to yourself ‘wouldn’t that be a nice way to enjoy life.’ They are all a great way to let your worries simply float away, and good therapy for the soul.

Boating is a great way to get the younger generation off the computer and Playstation, instead spending time outdoors undertaking healthy activity (without technology drawing us to constantly check our inbox!) all this while learning something new; now that’s a win for everyone! Give boating some attention, a bit of patience and a good dose of humour and it will give you back so much more in return.

Is a quiet cruise or taking time to enjoy the journey of exploration of interest to you? Some prefer to teach the kids to water-ski or tube. This can be wonderfully fulfilling and a unique way to connect with your children, and maybe even your grandchildren. Perhaps, it is to go fishing and try to catch the one that got away, so many years before. Revenge is so sweet. It’s even a great chance to just talk with your mates about blokey stuff, which is good for the soul and great exercise for your mind too.

Regardless of the activity, many of us boaties have strong memories of the time we first went boating. For me as a 12 year old, it is the experience of catching a fish for the very first time and being so excited to tell my parents Others remember when they first learnt to water-ski, or that house boating holiday with the cousins or family friends all those years ago.

This is the essence for why we go boating. It’s to connect and in some cases reconnect with those that are important in our lives, because it’s all too easy to get caught up in the day to day struggle of your work, forgetting to share quality time with family and friends. So let’s out everything into perspective – it’s all about lifestyle and life is, sadly, too short.

Boating will make you more active, have you laughing out loud with those that are important and, above all, you’ll have a blast. Just remember that ‘Life is better with a boat.’