Summer date ideas

Stuck for ideas for your next date? Avoid the cliches and try these great summer date ideas.

Walks on the beach may be the fodder of online dating profiles, but they’re a little – how can we put this? Boring. Like a good action flick, the best dates require a climax, story arc and something to learn or experience.

Why? Learning skills and completing tasks drop deep anchors into our memory banks, while solving problems brings you closer together faster. So, this summer, skip the old chestnuts with these blockbuster ideas:

The cliché: Lying on the beach

Dodge it by Getting wet
Let’s start with the obvious: stripping down in the sun lets you check out each other’s beach bodies.

That’s a no-brainer, right? Now consider this: a 2009 study by Austrian and German researchers found that vitamin D (which you can get from just a few minutes in the sun) significantly increases testosterone in men. Since lounging about is for the elderly (bathing caps! No splashing!), try adding some adrenaline to that hormonal cocktail coursing through his veins. Start out by prepping properly.

If you’ve never surfed, rent a soft surfboard and take turns pushing each other out into the waves. Itching for speed? Hire a jetski for an arvo and stop off to have a snack (or a shag) halfway through. And if you happen to be landlocked, consider doing an at-home car wash: you do his, then he’ll return the favour... before turning the hose on each other.

The cliché: Having brunch at a cafe

Dodge it by Going from farm to table
Food writer Gael Greene once penned, “Great food is like great sex. The more you have, the more you want.”

And in fact, in the 2010 Women’s Health and Men’s Health joint sex survey 62 per cent of men (and 52 per cent of women) said dinner at home was the best date to get them in the mood.

So why not scout out some delicious organic food and spend an evening at the stove together? The best part about organic grub: you don’t have to be Tobie Puttock to whip up a decent spread, thanks to the tastiness of our fresh local produce and meat.

Start by driving to your local farmers’ market or a nearby farm to source some rocket and organic tomatoes. Then move on to a dairy farm for milk and cheese.

Top it off with a visit to a local butcher for some grass-fed beef or free-range chicken. If you want to get really wild, why not cook and camp under the stars? Check out some alfresco friendly (and super-yummy) recipes: Oysters with garlic butter or Apricots with gooey nougat

The cliché: Going for a jog

Dodge it by Turning your city into an urban jungle

Ever watch The Amazing Race? You’re either convinced that you and your partner would slay the competition, or that you’d dissolve into a hot mess of tears and accusations.

Now’s your chance to find out (with much lower stakes), thanks to a Sydney and Melbourne adventure race series called City Chase (City Chase). Held in the first few months of each year, the four- to six-hour event pits teams against each other in a multi-discipline competition in the urban jungle.

Kayaking on Sydney Harbour, abseiling down buildings and playing food roulette will make you appreciate your partner’s strengths and weaknesses, help you get used to working through conflicts – and even boost your libido. Not only does competition increase testosterone (which regulates sex drive), research conducted by the University of Texas in the US shows that just 20 minutes of exercise boosts genital blood flow in women. Not in Sydney or Melbourne? Find more races at Max Adventure, Adventure Race Australia, Banzai or Sleep Monsters if you’re in New Zealand.

The cliché: Watching the sunset

Dodge it by Painting the sunset
Diego Rivera had Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali had Gala, and Pablo Picasso had, well, a lot of women.

Our point? The primal release of slathering a canvas with pigment releases something in a person. Here’s how you can unleash you and your boyfriend’s inner artists: grab some canvases from an art store – they won’t set you back more than $20 – as well as paint, brushes and a blanket.

You don’t need anything too fancy (the back of a pizza box can serve as a mixing palette). Bring a lamp, mosquito repellent and maybe even an actual pizza, and set up shop on top of a hill overlooking a nice view. By the time the sun has set, you’ll have added the finishing touches and will be waiting for the paint to dry before packing up. Which is when the second part of this date comes in. Blanket? Night sky? You do the maths.

The cliché: Watching sport on telly

Dodge it by Making a pilgrimage
Sitting on the lounge watching the Ashes all summer might well be your partner’s idea of heaven, but things can certainly get a little tedious after your fifth consecutive hour of veging in front of the box.

Scientists at Indiana University, US, found that people who attended games and cheered for the same team felt an increased sense of connectedness, so for a more memorable experience and a chance to bond, why not pack your esky, get your sunscreen and hat and head for the real deal.

Cricket not your thing? Not to worry. Australia is a true sporting Mecca in summer. Not only is there the Sydney to Hobart on December 26, there’s also the Australian Open in January and the Quiksilver Pro end of February to March. Not to mention a host of smaller, quirkier events – how about tuna tossing in Port Lincoln, wood chopping in St Helens or cane toad racing in Tamborine, anyone?

Whether your team wins or loses, you and your partner will have experienced a huge day of thrills, spills and live action fun. Can’t beat that.

The cliché: Visiting the driving range

Dodge it by Shooting a bow and arrow
There’s more than one reason men ogle video game vixens and dool over tough, ponytail-sporting action heroines. Sure, the curve-baring costumes don’t hurt, but a woman in total control oozes confidence and strength, and has an edge that blokes find alluring.

Your move: hit the archery range with your partner to unleash your inner medieval maiden (the tough sort, of course). Shooting those arrows at a target is an instant, satisfying release, and the implicit sense of danger – one wrong move and things could go very wrong – dumps dopamine into your system, which may even boost your sex drive.

Let’s face it: smacking little white balls at an uptight driving range pales next to shooting a powerful bow and arrow. Visit Archery Australia to find your local archery club, or Abbey Archery if you’re in New Zealand.