Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: As we enter the colder months, staying connected can require a bit more creativity. So today we're sharing with you nine winter date ideas to keep you connected with your partner through the cooler months. Whether it's braving outdoors for some crisp winter air or finding some fun indoors with lined up practical and enjoyable activities that you and your partner can try out this season. So grab a hot chocolate or some mulled wine and and let's get into how you can keep the connection alive with some fun and simple winter dates.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Hey, we're Kim and Rog and we're here to show couples how to get the best out of their relationship so they can start living their dream life together.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: We're a West Aussie couple who are living the life of our dreams. We don't entertain the word should, we think about the future as a field of possibilities and we let joy be our compass.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: We've taken the simple idea of working as a team and applied it to our marriage and it's been a game changer, allowing us to work out what truly lights us up in life and to go after it together.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: From living in snowy Japan to starting our own house flipping business, we've achieved some big dreams and most importantly, we feel fulfilled and are having the most fun we've ever had.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Pick conversations from, inspiring couples, thoughts from relationship experts, and tales from our own lives as we help you to gain the wisdom and skills you'll need to turn your relationship into a real team.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: These are relationship conversations for real people, by real people. So sit back, get comfort in whatever tickles you pickle, and enjoy living the team life.
So winter is upon us. And as we all know, maybe we don't get a little bit lazier in winter, but we're less likely to.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no, no. We get a bit lazy.
Okay. When you pulled out that Mac and cheese for lunch today, I was like, oh, I see a few of those in my future, sweetie.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: That was in the circle of the Mac and cheese for lunch. That wasn't for.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Was that in the cone of silence?
[00:01:56] Speaker A: That was in the cone of silence that I had Mac and cheese for lunch today.
Moving on. So look, in winter, our lack of activity can have a knock on effect of us doing less one on one time together with our partner, but it totally shouldn't. There are heaps of things you can do with your partner on dates to spend more time together during winter. So that's what Kim and I are going to talk about today. We're going to give you nine winter date ideas to keep you connected through the cooler months.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Yeah. This just hit us the other day when we were actually talking about what we're going to do this winter together. And I thought, what a great thing to share with our audience, giving them some inspiration for things that they can do through winter, because you can be lacking in inspiration and it's a common thread in Perth, people love to say, oh, there's nothing to do in winter, but there's plenty to do in winter. You just have to be maybe a little bit more creative. It's not as obvious, it's not as easy, maybe, as just traveling down to the beach and heading home again for a swim in the pool. So, yeah, this is going to be a fun one. Let's head through the nine winter date ideas we have, kicking off with a hike amongst the waterfalls. All throughout the country, there are areas that obviously are dried up during summer that with heavy rainfall become.
I mean, I use the word waterfall. They're called waterfalls. These are not Niagara Falls rock drivels.
Rock falls, actually. And they're lovely.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: They're beautiful.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: It's so lovely when they've had a big rain and it starts flushing through and they do cascade over rocks and they have streams coming off them. And there's something absolutely beautiful about being in nature and hearing the water running past you. So first date day idea in winter is get your wellies on, get your rain jacket on if you really need, buy some wet weather pants and get out and do a hike in amongst the rain. It's also joyful to put your wet weather gear on and kind of stick it to the weather.
You can be as nasty as you like, but I can still get out there and there's something magic about walking through rain. It does feel lovely. So for first idea, hike amongst the waterfalls.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. We're definitely going to do that in the next few weeks and go check out one of the waterfalls in the Perth Hills. So our second idea for a winter date day is to find a pub or a restaurant with a fireplace. And even if you want to level it up, book the couch or lounge that's next to it. I love this because a couple of years ago, you and I went to one of our locals, Sampson's paddock, which has a beautiful fire, and we were like, oh, how good is this? And we sat up at the bar and had a red wine. Actually, I think we did a bit of work and there was a couple that looked like they'd settled in for a few hours and they had a game of jenga or some cards or something and a bottle on the table. And they couldn't be more relaxed.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: They didn't have food.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: They had a bottle of wine bottle.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Brilliant. A nice big fat red. And they were just. They looked like they were in heaven. It was one of those things where you could see the romance really coming out in what they were doing.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Oh, totally. Yeah. So guys, like fires are romantic. But not only that, the research tells us that fireplaces are also really relaxing on our nervous system. This harks back to, you know, evolutionary times with the hunter gatherers. We used to all sit around the fire. Fire used to help us cook our food. Fire used to help us keep safe from predators. So it is relaxing. It does sort of, you know, it brings a bit of romance to your relationship and it is a bit novel as well.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: And it's only available in winter. It's one of the joys, you know, in winter, find the things that you don't get in summer, fireplaces, you don't get in summer, so enjoy them. That smell of, like, the smoky smell of wood burning is so good. It feels and smells so good.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: And it can hark you back to, like, camping as a kid or something like that. You know, those smells and sounds take you back to those old memories.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Yeah, takes me back to the wood heap.
All right, suggestion number three for a fun winter date is booking an indoor activity. And that could be going bowling, it could be playing mini golf indoors. It could be going to those darts places that they have that are all organized with fancy scoreboards and all the rest. Now, there's been a massive rise in companies offering these indoor activities in a really fun and diverse way. They're so much more organized than they used to be. They're so much more entertaining than they used to be. You know, you can go to the mini golf indoors. Mini golf. Holy moly. And you can have yourself a drink, have some food, go with a group of mates and really make an afternoon of it. Or go to the darts. I forgot what the darts place.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Flight center.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Flight center. That's great.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Flight club. Maybe it's flight club. Flight center is where you go if you want to go overseas.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: You know, you can have some fun there, too. Book a holiday while you're at holiday.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: And you can enjoy some healthy competition. We absolutely love going to these places. It makes us laugh so hard because we do love to just give each other a bit of shtick and really get into the competitiveness of it and walk away with a laugh. So, yeah, going to those places can add that fun, healthy competition and spark connection in the relationship again, which is really lovely, especially when the weather might be a bit dreary.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: That's right. So number four of our winter date ideas is to learn a new skill. So that could be a pottery class, an art class, or a cooking class, and of course, doing it together. There's a saying that I love, and it's that you're forever young as long as you're learning something new. And I think what that means is when you're learning something new, you're bringing out the part of you that is a bit childlike. So when you grow up, through all your childhood, you're always constantly learning new things, you're getting exposed to new things. And of course, when we become big, ugly old adults, we're less likely to do new things. We're less likely to learn to learn new skills. That old adage, you can't teach her old dog new tricks. Nah, throw that out the window. What we want is to experience a bit of novelty and test ourselves and push ourselves and. And do something different. It doesn't matter if you're terrible at it. That's sort of part of the fun and the learning experience. It puts you out of your comfort zone, which is really important. And it's a shared activity with your partner, something that stretches you, something that you can do together, you know, something that can, you know, that novelty in your lives that maybe is sometimes missing, yet it's a new skill you're picking up, so you're actually improving, you're getting better. And from that you get a sense of achievement. And that actually can kick into some of the good love hormones like oxytocin and vasopressin between a couple when they're doing something new, when they're learning to do a new skill, and when they're achieving something by doing it.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: You know, one of the things I'm most scared of in life is so random, is running out of time to try all the things I want to try.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: And you do want to try a lot of things.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I just feel like life is just like obviously people say, but it is way, way too short. There is so much out there.
It just is so baffling to me when people say that, you know, they've done it all or seen it all or what a crazy comment. There's no way you've done it all or seen it all. And there will never be enough days in my life to try everything I want to try.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And just because you're going to go do a pottery class doesn't mean you have to start throwing out all your crockery. You know, this is just something to have a bit of fun about, you know? And just because you're going to go to a cooking class doesn't mean, oh, what? We can get rid of the Uber eats app, you know, this is just something to do once off for fun, but if you find you do enjoy it, it's something that maybe you can progress with and do again. Again. Because they do have beginner classes and intermediate and advanced classes.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, next. Number five. Get involved in some culture. And obviously pottery and things like that are also culture, but we're talking about those things that we say, ooh, that's so cultural. Things like the ballet, the opera, a musical, a museum, maybe a one off installation somewhere. The Van Gogh thing that came that we went to recently probably wasn't that recent now. That was.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: We went to Monet in Paris.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: We missed that one. Sorry. Beg your pardon. There you go. That's how much my brain pays those impressionists.
I really enjoyed it. So that's all that matters. It's. Australia does have really great offerings in this space. And I think we unfairly put ourselves down around never getting good stars or never getting good shows. It's not true. We get a lot of good shows and you don't need to. It doesn't need to be brilliant for you to have a great date. You know, it's not something you do every day. So when you go, you get the novelty, the excitement and the shared experience of it being something really different. And to make it easier, sign up to newsletters. We sign up to quite a few local newsletters, like what's going on in Perth and things like that, where you can find out a broadsheet where you can follow along what's happening, you know, sign up, follow along on instagram, see what's coming up that you might not have thought of. That would be a fun bit of culture to experience and share with your. With your favorite person. It's about trying different things together. Maybe you'll love it and maybe you'll hate it. Maybe you'll go home and the best part of the date will be laughing about how terrible the show was. But you're still having fun together. It doesn't matter.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, you know, sometimes when we get so busy in our lives, we can stop.
We forget to stop and look at beautiful things. And you and I love being outdoors and seeing, you know, the beauty of nature. But the physical strength and agility required from ballet dancers. How many of us wish we were singers in a band? Or we could sing? And yet these, the opera singers are some of the best singers in the world. Musicals, they're so much fun and they've got so much joy. And of course, in museums and art galleries, you're seeing the beauty of history and the beauty of some of the world seen through an artist's eyes. So I think being able to experience that together when we often don't, you know, we might say, oh, I love going to the museum. I love going to opera or ballet. You don't have to love going. I think that's the point. Do something a little bit different, and you don't have to do it every year. You don't have to do it all the time. You just expose yourself to that beauty.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: I love that. What a great perspective. Appreciate, and we really do when we go to these things, appreciate the skill of these people, appreciate the work that they've put in, of what they've done and what they've been able to achieve and how, how magical that is just for what it is. I'm not a big, I wouldn't say I'm a ballet person or an opera person, but if someone said to me, do you want to go to the opera? I'd be like, yeah, hell yeah, I want to go.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Why wouldn't I want to appreciate the skill that comes out in that you don't like? I love what you say, Roger. You don't have to love everything. You can enjoy and appreciate things as well.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: Date idea number six for winter is to head out into the countryside and visit a small country town. There's so many cool and beautiful country towns in Australia. It doesn't matter which capital city you live in, or if you live in a country town, go visit the city. We're just going to focus on the urban central people at the moment. But you can learn a bit about history if you go visit these towns, you can enjoy the rural side of life. Kim and I love going up to two j. We've been to York in the last year. We went for another hike, and then we sat and had a pub lunch. We went to some of the old, you know, secondhand or thrift shops there, and you see these beautiful old, you know, crystal glasses and these cool old pieces of, like, coca Cola, you know, advertisements from the 1920s. Again, it's just something cool and different. There's a good chance you'll eat the best pie or jam donut from some cool local bakery you've ever had. We love going and having a. A beer next to old maid at the local pub. And the other thing is you actually might slow down a little bit.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah, this is one of my absolute favorites. You know, the country is definitely where I feel most relaxed, most safe, most at peace in myself and little country towns. We have so many beautiful little country towns in Australia. We've visited quite a few, obviously, in Victoria when we lived over there and in Western Australia. And they're just magic. The history they have, the pace they move at, the community mindedness. You will experience all that even as a visitor. And it's just joyful to really get into the identity of these country towns and what is such a big part of australian culture.
All right, moving on to number seven.
Go to a beachside restaurant and watch the water, watch the storms as they rage out in the ocean. This is such a great one. It might sound so simple, but I don't know if people deliberately go somewhere so that you can watch the ocean. It's such a form of entertainment. Enjoy winter, enjoy the storms, the variety of weather and what it brings out in nature. Watching the ocean is like watching a fire. It will calm your nervous system. But the other side to the. To the ocean, because when you're watching a fire, you're watching it contained. The thing that the ocean has that it doesn't is it's big.
It is huge. Nothing will humble you like watching the. Watching the ocean. For me, it's a complete and utter reminder of the insignificance I represent in this world. And I don't mean that to put myself down. I mean to say we are but a speck in the bigger scheme of things. And there's something.
There's something in some way peaceful about knowing that we are just a speck, that all the little things we get tied up into are so insignificant really, in the greater picture of life, life force, nature. And I also think the other part of this, when we experience nature in that way, when we enjoy watching nature and what she's capable of, it often spurs gratitude, because you do realize how powerless you are, how absolutely out of control we are. We, as humans, really love to try and control things, but the reality is we've got nothing on Mother Nature. And there's something magical about taking that moment to be grateful for what we do have, grateful for the luck we do get bestowed upon us, because there are far more powerful forces at play.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I think when I was younger, actually. Both of us grew up very close to the beach, you in a little country town on the beach. And I grew up a few streets away from the beach in Perth. And when I was younger, I used to. And quite, you know, when I was, you know, 1011, that sort of thing, I used to walk down to the beach on a rainy, wet winter day with all my gear on and just sit there. And sometimes I'd even whack my wetsuit on, or even just my bodies if it wasn't too cold, and go in and get tumbled by the waves. And I realize now, looking back at it, it was probably because of. Maybe I was a bit stressed as a kid or I needed to. I needed to zone out a bit. And I used to love it. And I think just like we talked about in one of our first ideas of going and sitting by the fire and watching the fire and the mindfulness and relaxation you can get from that, the impact on the nervous system, seeing the ocean at full force during a storm is super relaxing for your nervous system. Water is relaxing for your nervous system.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: It's a beautiful memory, Roger.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Yeah. So, all right, another one is if you're stuck at home and you can't get out because maybe you couldn't get a babysitter, or it's absolutely thundering down with rain, and maybe you didn't plan one of the other dates that we've put forward to you, clear some space, set the kids up with a movie and some popcorn or Netflix or whatever, and bust out an old board game or even go buy a new one. Again, this is the childlike play coming to the fore. The joy. I'm sure a lot of you used to do this with your brothers and sisters or even your parents as a family, and all of a sudden, you've just stopped playing board games. It's a great one to put your phone away and to connect with your partner. It can be also a little bit competitive. You know, pour a red wine, crack open the Camrys, and put your fighting hat on. Because if you're like Kim and I, Kim likes to play for sheep stations. When it comes to Monopoly is the.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: Best game on earth, and it breaks my heart when I lose.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Yep. I think the last time we did this was on your birthday in Japan about four years ago, we played Monopoly.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: I don't think we need to.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: And I won.
But, you know, since then, last year, you and I got just a simple two player decker card game called Jaipur. And it was like this weird little buying the selling of goods and diamonds and stuff. And you and I used to play that. You know, we could do a 15 minutes round or a 45 minutes round.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: All right, then. Moving on to our last winter date we have, and this one is obviously personally meaningful to us.
Well, let me just say what it is. It's rock climbing. So we have become a rock climbing family.
I'm not. I'm not up the wall yet, but rog and our daughter are. And I am going up the wall. I'm going up the wall this winter.
It's watching it from the outside.
It's such a cool experience. I think anyone can have a crack at it. The centers we visit are so community minded. They're just beautiful. They're just really kind people. It's a full mixed bag of people from all walks of life and everyone's just having a go at challenging themselves, problem solving and supporting one another to get as far up the wall as they can. And I just absolutely love that about it.
Anyone who's feeling like, oh, it's beyond me or I'm not an agile person, I can't tell you how not agile I am. And I'm still going to have a crack at it because the fun I see in the people visiting the rock climbing centre and we see a lot of people on a date at rock climbing, spurring each other on. So beautiful. And you build trust through that experience. It doesn't have to be a super scary experience. Any sort of anxiety you have where your partner stands and supports you is going to build trust. It's a really great opportunity to actually build connection and bond on a date.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: Because you're holding the rope.
You're holding the rope for your partner. So there's got to be a lot of trust there. Trust.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: If you don't let go of the road.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's super accessible. You know, our daughter has additional needs and, yeah, put aside from the fact she just seems to be a bit of a natural genius at rock climbing. But there are a lot of other kids who have additional needs who can do rock climbing. So it's highly accessible to most people. You only need like a 1520 minutes or not in that. A five to ten minute intro at a lot of centers. Yeah, sign a waiver. Sign a waiver for your life. But it's actually super simple. You can hire the gear for like $10 and most people within 15 minutes are already climbing up the wall together. And yeah, it's super fun and it's available all year round because you're indoors.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that one. All right, that's our nine winter date ideas, guys. Hopefully they have sparked something inside you and you're thinking, yep, I'd love to do that. I'm going to book something in, I think. Are we doing a challenge on these nine?
[00:23:16] Speaker A: Well, that was gonna be my golden nugget.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Oh, sorry, Roger, what's your gold nugget out of today?
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Well, I'm glad you asked, Kim. So my clearly one you prepared earlier, my gold nugget is that Kim and I are going to do all nine of these dates over winter and we'll upload footage of it onto our social. So we're just saying we're going to do a challenge. If we can do all nine, you need to be able to do at least two or three of these. And if you can do all nine as well, we'd love to see it as well.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Oh, that would be awesome. If people do do these dates, please tag us in them. That would be so cool. I would feel so stoked to know that you guys were connecting and bonding, enjoying some great winter dates from my end. In terms of my gold nugget today, my gold nugget is that we came up with nine really great winter dates. We planned this, obviously a little while back and it just came flooding out of us because there is so much fun stuff to do in winter. And I hope that this episode has pepped you guys up. I hope you're not thinking, oh no, the dregs of winter think Woohoo. What can I get out of winter that I don't get in summer? What can I do in winter that I wouldn't do in summer? And really enjoy winter for what she is. She's an exciting, different time of year. And share that with your partner. Have a great time together, date well and enjoy life. Enjoy winter.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: You're amazing. You've just spent quality time on your relationship.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Feel like you're on a roll. If you want more living the team life relationship insights and conversations, head over to kimandroj.com where you can find all the show notes as well as tons of other relationship goodies.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: And if you liked today's episode, please hit subscribe or let another couple know where they can find us. It'll make them happy and it'll make us really happy.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Until next time, keep on living the team life.
