Multitasking, constantly checking emails, Facebook, Instagram, voicemails, Twitter, running around and chasing your tail: does this sound familiar?
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like you’re on a merry-go-round and the impact of this modern way of life on your mental and physical health can be significant. With so much technology to distract us, and an increasingly rapid pace of life, it’s never been more important to get away, take stock and maybe even re-chart your course.
As part of a campaign for Season of Sailing, Tourism and Events Queensland wanted to send a couple of real people to travel to the Whitsunday’s, learn to sail and set off on their own island hopping adventure.
For Melbourne couple, Tearlach and Amy, the experience was important for them to take time out and reassess their lives. This documentary captures two young, big city creative’s being transplanted to the endless blue and perfect white sands of the Whitsundays.
After three days sailing a boat on the Whitsunday’s, Tearlach and Amy both said the biggest impact was taking a step back and realising what’s important in life.
“It’s easy to get caught up in your every day. It just becomes a habitual. You don’t get the chance to think; am I happy? How do I feel about the situation?” Amy said.
“We live in the cities and the suburbs. When you get out to somewhere (like in the middle of the Whitsunday’s on a yacht) and there’s nothing else going on, you connect with nature and it frees up your mind a bit more. Even artistically, it lets some of the ideas come through, without being constantly worried about other things,” she said.
Tearlach and Amy are not much different from many city-dwellers. Living in an urban jungle, with houses in close proximity to each other, it’s difficult to get any sense of space and thinking can get quite myopic.
“When you’re on the water sailing, it’s a really beautiful and raw experience. It’s not often you get to look around and not see the effects of man and it’s just you. To moor up to an island and there’s just an untouched beach and no one else around, not a ripple on the water and clean, crisp air – it’s pretty spectacular,” Amy said.
A sailing holiday is more than just an ordinary trip to break away. There’s little to no phone or internet reception on the water, which means you are totally in that moment and completely disconnected – no disappearing into smartphones and laptops. Just you, the boat and the elements.
“Spending three beautiful days relaxing on the boat and soaking up the Whitsunday’s was such a different experience to what we do day to day. There’s no timeframes, no demands on what you’re doing with your time, you’re just being pulled along by the wind and it gives you a sense of perspective,” Tearlach said.
“When you’re in the middle of nowhere on the ocean watching a sunset on the horizon or amazing shafts of sunlight coming through the clouds, there’s nothing ticking away at the back of your mind and you find yourself having these really serene pure moments together,” he said.
“It’s so important to take this time out to ask yourself; what are the good things that we do together? What are the things that we miss out on? When you’re standing up too close to your life, you can’t see the bigger picture. Taking a step back and having an experience like sailing, even for just a short trip, helps you to prioritise the little things that make you happy that you should be doing,” he said.
“You don’t necessarily have to be swept along with everything that you perceive to be beneficial – you don’t have to be a passenger in your own journey,” he said.
You too can get away and escape the realities of every day life. Sailing in the Whitsunday’s couldn’t be further from your life in city, but it’s so close and accessible. Just jump on a short plane trip, half a day of training later and you’re off on your own island adventure. Trading your Smartphone for an unadulterated skyline can be a relief, a chance to take a breath, stretch your brain and dwell on the important things in life.
For more information on sailing holidays in Queensland:
Queensland’s Season of Sailing – Queensland Holidays
http://www.charteryachtsaustralia.com.au/
www.facebook.com/visitqueensland
http://www.youtube.com/queensland
http://instagram.com/queensland
Image credits: Michael Condon
