People who have family members and housemates have no problem finding fun activities together. But what about the middle aged ones who are currently living alone and all our family and friends are busy? What can we do to beat loneliness?
Here are 10 outdoor fun and frugal activities for middle-aged people who are currently living alone:
Visiting parks
Go to google map and type “Parks around me” or instead of ‘me’, you can type a certain suburb. Visiting a park that you rarely go or never been to is like going to another ‘city’. It’s new. It’s fun. Bring your camera or your phone that has a camera. Take pictures, selfies, ducks, birds, bees, trees, flowers, etc.
Bike Riding
This is similar to the above, you can use google map and decide where you want to go for a bike ride.
Picnic
Pack up some snacks or meals, your favourite drinks, and a picnic rug. You can do it at the beach, at a park, or at your back yard.
Reading Outside
Like picnic, you can do it anywhere. All you need is a good book like “Everything is F*cked” by Mark Manson, and a folding chair.
Don’t like reading books? Listen to audiobooks then. You just need to download audible to your phone or tablet, pick the book you like, put your earphones on and start reading by listening. Just search “Audible” in your app store and you’ll find it easily.
Metal Detecting
Metal detecting is like a treasure hunt. You detect metal (or gold!) with a tool called a metal detector. You may discover something valuable like coins, jewellery, or gold nuggets.
Every country has different laws on which location is allowed/not allowed for metal detecting. So check with your local council before going for a metal detecting. Don’t have a metal detector? Get one here for under AU$40, delivered.
Bird Watching
Bird watching is not an expensive hobby. You can just sit down and watch, or use a decent 10×42 binocular which costs under AU$50 here.
If you’re into bird photography but don’t know where to start, start with a camera with a built-in telelens 24-600 mm like Sony RX10. And to learn how to use it, go to youtube and just type “Sony RX10 tutorials basics” and you’ll find heaps of videos showing you how to use the camera.
Don’t forget to dress suitably for weather changes. Subdued clothing is recommended, as brightly coloured clothes (‘bird-scaring clothes’) make it difficult to approach some birds. Also, hats, sunscreen and good walking or hiking shoes are all appropriate birding fashion accessories.
Stargazing
Like birdwatching, you can just sit down and gaze at the stars. You can also use a binocular or take pictures. You can use the binocular you use for bird watching as mentioned above, or use the Sony RX10 too. And as mentioned, you can find heaps of videos showing you how to do astrophotography.
Nature Photography
There are plenty of options when it comes to nature photography: ducks, birds, bees, trees, flowers, waterfalls, lakes, pebbles, etc.
Fishing
It’s one of the most relaxing hobbies and if you catch some fish, you have free dinner.
Gardening
Gardening can be a chore, but of course, it can also count as a fun activity.
