The river is in the heart of Brisbane and there are plenty of spots along the banks offering stellar views, but if you want to get a little closer, the city’s latest offering might just be for you.
GoBoats are the city’s new electric picnic boats seating up to eight people including your four-legged friends.
After a safety brief, you’re on your way and once on the water, you’re totally self-sufficient.
“No boat licence required, you can jump on board, we give you a demo, we make sure you’re comfortable, comfortable with the waterway and just enjoy out on the river,” said Brisbane GoBoat GM, Jonathan Rodgers.
Go Boats started in 2015 in Copenhagen Denmark before expanding worldwide.
They’re a traditional fibreglass construction, but the interiors include recycled plastic keeping to the eco-friendly objective. The electric motor on board is also very quiet using green power.
As for the picnic element, it’s BYO food and drinks however there’s also the option to order a platter beforehand to take out all the prep work.
You can hire your Go Boat from the Dockside Marina pop-up location for a limited time – ahead of the launch at the Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Precinct.
Times are flexible so you can choose to be on the water for an hour or half a day.
“Once you’re on the boat and enjoying the river you can really see the city from a different point of view,” Jonathan said. “Seeing the Story Bridge, seeing the Woolsheds coming out of Breakfast Creek. It’s really about enjoying the river. Not going too fast, not getting from A to B, but just enjoying what the city has to offer.”
From one river vista to another and they don’t come much more speccy than the view from Joey’s Restaurant perched atop the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.
They’re dog friendly too much to the delight of Joey’s host Ella Lodi.
“We love having all of our little pooches come in, we give them their little water bowl and everyone comes for their walk and they jump into Joeys and have a coffee or some brekky to start their day or sometimes even a cocktail to end their day here,” she said.
On the menu, some pretty fierce and fabulous cocktails like the Seedlip Citrus with seed lip grove, citrus juice, agave and ginger ale or the Joey’s Spritz with vodka, vermouth, fresh ginger, ginger beer, prosecco and soda.
As for the food, that’s pretty impressive too.
“All of our food we locally source it,” said Ella. “Our seafood is from Noosa or Mooloolaba which is really nice and fresh. All of our veggies and herbs are locally sourced from Brisbane farms and at the moment we’ve got our oysters from Sydney Rock so they’re beautiful. Really nice and fresh.”
And of course, as the sun goes down, it’s pretty difficult to name a spot with views quite like those of Joey’s.
There’s so much to see and do on or along the Brisbane River.
To book your Brisbane GoBoat today, click here.
For your spot at Joey’s Restaurant, click here.
For plenty more ideas on a BrisBetter Day Out in Brisbane, head to the Explore BrisBetter Days Out website.