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$30 Date Night has been produced by couple Denis & Emma Merkas.
"We started date night as a way to get our butts off the couch and out into the real world - cause it's just too easy for us to plonk ourselves in front of the TV and veg-out each night." Says Denis.
HAVE NEW EXPERIENCES:
It's said that SHARING NEW EXPERIENCES with your partner releases the same hormones produced at the early stages of a relationship - aka honeymoon period. $30DN has plenty date ideas that push comfort circles - stepping out of your comfort circle = a new experience.
"You know when we first started our date nights, we stuck the usual - the things we knew we liked. Eventually we ventured out away from the date ideas we thought we would like and gave the lame date ideas a try. Now that we've done it we can seriously say the date ideas which we thought would be lame turned out to be the most fun. Expectations were low; the experiences were new and they seldom turned out crappy. In fact it's the lame date ideas that have been the most memorable."
Here is a list of the date Ideas we remember to be the MOST fun we've had - and what made it so awesome!
Apparently there are 4 nude beaches around Melbourne Australia - we found one of them - Addis Point - just past Bells Beach (Torquay).
DENIS: At first glance the beach was packed and EVERYONE had bathing suits... this got me nervous! Luckily the beach is long, we took our time to walk the beach and see if we could spot any nudist enthusiast. In amongst the crowd we spotted a completely naked man. The stakes to take our clothes off at this point were far too high! And all bets were off!!! We continued walking the beach, the crowds dropped off and the nudists became more common. We finally decided to stop walking and braved it - even tho at this point there were very little people and most of the people around us were naked stripping down was still terrifying.......... until about 5 minutes after nuding up.
WHAT MADE THIS FUN: It was a combination of adrenalin, fear and excitement. But we were in it together! It made it much easier that Emma was there with me. I'd definitely do it again!
Every city and most towns have somewhere you can play Bingo. We went to a massive bingo hall in Fawkner (Melbourne). It was serious - and I mean serious!
DENIS: Bingo is MUCH more popular than what I ever imagined! Walking into that bingo hall was - it was HUGE! and it was packed!!! In the beginning everything about this place rubbed me up the wrong way. It wasn't sexy, it definitely wasn't romantic and I felt out of place. Although something changed once those bingo numbers started rolling out - the aesthetics didn't seem to matter anymore - excitement was building - the thrill of winning was infectious! 2 hours went by in a flash! It was the final game - in the next 90 seconds someone was going to walk out $10,000 richer! The final 20 seconds of the game, I had 2 bingo numbers to mark off, the $10k was mine! I was concentrating so hard, my mouth dry, my heart beating waiting for those last 2 numbers... and then... BINGO!!! Some lady from across the hall had screamed out the words I was dying to say. Boo hiss.
WHAT MADE THIS FUN: This was so far out of my comfort circle that it was cool! I had such a good time... the jackpot for the night was $10,000 - there were loads of prizes throughout the night, and even tho we didn't win anything it turned out to be one of the most memorable night out I've had with Emma!
Remember that movie the Labyrinth with David Bowie in it? This date idea was nothing like that... the hedge maze we entered gave us a little trouble at first but it I wouldn't say we got lost.
DENIS: part of me would love to try a labyrinth style maze - although I'm sure that the fun would be quickly replaced with frustration once you were well and truly lost. The maze we entered had clues you could find to solve a puzzle - finding these clues forced you to track back, snake around and eventually make you a little lost.
WHAT MADE THIS FUN: It's not our fault, we got caught up in the surroundings and found ourselves acting like teenagers again. There was a pash or two between the bushes... some fooling around maybe... things that could have been quite embarrassing for everyone involved.
It's a freezing cold winter's night, you're standing outside in your bathers with your partner, towel wrapped around you though you're still shivering from the cold... the stars are out and plumes of mist rise from the water. You place a foot into the water; it's hot, very hot! You brave it and submerge your entire body; it only takes seconds for your body to adjust. Ahh, it's perfect.
DENIS: Melbourne has the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs. Tue - Thu $15 between 6pm - 9pm. It's a bargain! The only problem is that unless you live in south eastern suburbs you'll be stuck in traffic for hours - unless you own a helicopter! Traffic + date = headache! If you live less than 45mins from the Mornington Peninsula - rock on! Get into it!!!
WHAT MADE THIS FUN: Mineral Springs at night time is so different to the other date ideas; soak in a mineral spring under the stars. Very romantic. The place we went to had 3 springs with varying degrees of temperature - mild, hot, very hot! Like the 3 little bears we jumped from spring to spring to check out which temperature took our fancy... oh there was also a icy cold plunge pool - although Emma dared me to jumping the stakes were just not high enough - I probably would have done it if she did a nudie run through the public pools.
People on our site hate this date idea, I can empathise. Gambling is a problem and is addictive. When it comes to gambling and me... well I'm definitely out of my depth. I have no idea how a race-meet works, how to place a bet over the phone or net and worst of all - I've never even been to Australia's famous Melbourne cup and I live in the bloody city!
DENIS: So when Emma and I rocked up to the Casino with $30 we made our way to the cashier's desk and announced ourselves as noobs. The cashiers grinned and explained that you go to them when you want to change your chips into cash - not the other way around. They explained that we simply sit at a table, drop our money and they'll give us the chips.
Look - $30 in a casino disappears fast - and unless you're VERY lucky you'll probably be leaving the Casino within about 30 to 40 minutes. You DO NOT take additional cash, and you DO NOT take a credit card! It's a simple as that!
At first we won a bit of money - and then we lost it... all of it. Making some money was fantastic and losing it all didn't really matter - our budget for the date was $30. We had made sure that no additional money was in our pockets as it was very tempting to go another $30... instead we enjoyed a walk along the river - had a chat about how much fun we had and what would have happened if we had put our last chip on 00. We finished the night back home with dessert.
WHAT MADE THIS FUN: Emma and I don't have the first clue on how to gamble. We spent our time learning how to place roulette. For newbies to the Casino this date has it all. Excitement / potential to win / something to learn / fun.
If you ask me whether I'd do it again, I'd say "yes" but the rules of date night are that we cannot do the same date idea twice. Since that date I have not set a foot inside a Casino.
