Good day!
Welcome to the Big Boat Adventure.
Today, we are at Marmong Point Marina on the
Northern shores of Lake Macquarie which is
New South Wales.
It's absolutely gorgeous here!
Sunny day, sunshine glinting off the waves,
everything we could want for our very first
boat show.
We're going to be able to see a boat called
a Riviera 51, the owner of the marina, Les
is kind enough to lend us his boat so that
we can have a bit of a look around and try
to answer the question we're really interested
in, which is what it's like to really live
with these boats.
What it's like to take a boat from an idea
to an actual family adventure.
That's what we're going to find out.
Let's get out there and check it out.
Alright so, let's talk about this boat.
It is a 51-foot Riviera made around about
2009.
Fantastic boat to take your whole family out
for days at a time.
As you can see, it's got plenty of room at
the back to sit out in the sun and chill,
also it's got an enclosed flybridge which
means it's great in pretty much any whether.
The other feature of this particular boat,
it's been fit out for deep ocean fishing.
Those huge rods that you see there are actually
spread out like this so that you can have
multiple lines running off the back as you
should be going for mile and all the kraken
or whatever it is that you're trying to catch.
So let's talk about the back deck.
First thing to notice is it's really spacious.
I can see easily room here for 5 or 10 seats,
there's a beautiful bit of food, maybe some
drink here on the table.
Kids swimming off the back deck there.
Fantastic.
Lots of shade which is important on a sunny
day like today.
Here's a few more little features worth knowing
about.
Over here, plenty of space to work in terms
of cooking or getting some cheese plates going,
but also a sink underneath.
And then right next to it, we got ourselves
a plenty of space for some beers.
One of many fridges by the way on the actual
boat.
So we'll go up there in a second, but before
I do, I want to point out a feature over here.
This is really great!
This is a fishing boat as you noticed.
This particular one they set it up for lots
of fishing probably right out at sea.
And when you do, you need a spot to sort of
stash your fish.
So you fill this thing up with sea water,
and you drop your fish as you catch them right
in here at the top.
And you've got your very own personal aquarium
which becomes I guess you fast food outlet
as the day goes by.
Grab them, fry them, have them for dinner.
Les, thank you so much again for letting us
have a bit of a play with your boat.
It really has been magnificent.
So you've got yourself a Riviera, the classic
Aussie boat.
What made you choose this particular boat
over anything else out there?
Yeah well, we're at a different phase of our
life of boating with the family as I grow
older and we had a beautiful boat prior to
that for nearly 12 years.
It's Carver 57 and it was more of a cruising
boat.
And I want to keep the kids engaged in boating
as they go through their teenage years so
we want to go fishing.
Here we chose this boat, it was in beautiful condition from the Gold Coast and here we are
So beautiful, such a great place to be on
sunny day like this.
Plenty of shades, still very nice and cool
but what a view!
And let's have a look down here.
Oh, I've got to sit in the captain's seat.
I don't know if I feel like Jean-Luc Picard
in Star Trek or something slightly more boaty.
Either way, I could imagine going in this
thing around the ocean at full tilt.
So I'm going to spend a lot of time today
just talking about how fantastic this is and
how good I feel.
What a beautiful boat.
What a gorgeous sunny day.
But let's find out a few features of the flybridge.
Firstly, you'll see we've got covers all the
way around so we can wind in at the front,
or we can stop at using covers very helpful
on a really really windy, rainy day.
Also plenty of shades, nice and cool up here
also very helpful.
One thing I really like is this right here.
Obviously, you can pull this end a bit out
and you got a spot for a whole bunch of people
to sit.
Or you can just find a way to have a snooze
maybe in the afternoon, maybe even overnight.
And I've got to tell you, ohh, it's actually
pretty comfortable.
All I need is my other half right there and
I'be totally good to go.
Not a lot of people know this.
The word Riviera actually has greek roots.
What it means is boat of many fridges.
True story.
Here are some of those fridges, if I can figure
out how to open one.
That's fridge number two.
We got plenty more in the galley as well.
And of course a good spot here to either do
a little bit of snackery, a little bit of
light cookery if you have to.
You may ask yourself why am I coming to you
from this side of a boat.
Because in many boats, you can't actually
get around this side easily.
This is beautiful, it's got a pathway, it's
got plenty of spots to hang on to.
When I was young, if I manage to find myself
on a boat, the first place I would go was
right up the front like this.
I just love being out on the bow like this.
This particular deck has heaps of room.
We got enough room that's actually a room
for a whole boat and plenty of room for other
people to hang out at the sides.
But I'll tell you one more thing.
Back in the day, only about 10 years ago,
I used to shoot a television show called Groove
Delicious.
And we were out on a boat not too similar
to this, and that's when they made me walk
the plank!
And they actually threw me off.
It was very cold that day, but what a great
way to go if you have to, off the front, off
the bow, off the nose of a boat like this.
What's the rhythm in this thing?
How does this thing look when it's going really
beautifully with the whole family involved.
My son actually has a little 16-foot trailer
sailer that he bought and he maintains himself,
it's just outside the window in the marina
there.
And he will come down on the lake on that.
We'll meet him down at Poovar Island more
than likely or Wilson Creek which is down
south of Lake Macquarie and we'll anchor up
there for a couple of days.
Fish, crab, cook on the barbeque at the back.
We actively bring our kids along to make sure
they come along with their friends too, and
we paddle board and different things to keep
the interest there.
It's just some people go camping or caravaning,
and we go boating.
