Melbourne's Pet-Friendly BYO Picnic Boats Are Setting Sail Once Again

Since March, a selection of normal, everyday activities have been off the cards. Now, with Victoria's first stage of relaxed restrictions introduced earlier this week, Melburnians can enjoy the great outdoors again. You can go for a hike, play golf, head out on a boat and have a picnic in a park with up to ten people — all while social distancing, of course. And for those who want to picnic while cruising around the Yarra, you can do that, too — even if you don't own a boat.

From today, Friday, May 15, GoBoat's eco-friendly picnic boats are once again setting sail from Banana Alley, near Flinders Street Station. Aimed at making the whole boating caper more accessible for everyday folk, the outfit's Scandinavian-designed vessels are slow-moving, a breeze to operate and don't require a boating licence, making for fuss-free sailing sessions. In a win for the planet, they also run on silent, pollution-free, electric engines, and are crafted from a mix of reclaimed timber and recycled PET bottles. Oh, and did we mention they're pet-friendly? Surely you've got a very good boy who deserves a river jaunt.

However, due to COVID-19, it'll be doing things a little differently. While the vessels have an eight-person capacity, you'll only be hopping aboard with up to five people from your family or household — and all your delicious snacks, of course. There'll also be contactless check-in and hand sanitiser available on all boats, plus they'll be sanitised before every use.

Each of the contemporary GoBoats clocks in at 18-feet long, boasting a central picnic table with room for all the necessary snacks and booze. And despite what you might be thinking, they're pretty affordable — simply BYO food and drinks, round up enough of your housemates to jump aboard and a GoBoat session will cost you less than $22 per person, per hour. That's $109 hourly in total, or $189 for two hours, $269 for three hours, $349 for four hours, $429 for five hours and $509 for six hours. Yes, you can really make a whole day of it.

For more information about GoBoat, or to make a booking, visit the service's website.

Images: Lean Timms