By JOLENE OGLE
YOUNG parents Scott and Bree Prince wanted to give their children the coastal lifestyle Noosa is famous for, but a lack of employment and an ageing population meant this dynamic duo needed to create their own income.
Scott, 33, Bree, 33, and their two children Rocco, 2, and Franki, 4, have a story similar to many young families who want to live in Noosa but a local unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent forces families to move to Brisbane for work or endure the daily commute.
Scott and Bree were determined to stay in Noosa and contribute to the community, but they would never have guessed their future lay in one of Noosa’s iconic river boats, the Catalina.
“We were sitting on the foreshore one day and we were looking at this boat and wondering why it was always docked,” Bree said. “We had no intention of buying a business but we got chatting to the former owner anyway and he asked if we were interested in taking on the business.”
Bree, Scott and Bree’s brother Tim Norris, a former construction worker in Brisbane, all found themselves looking for a new challenge that would help them create an income and lifestyle in Noosa.
“Opportunity presented itself,” Scott said. “Tim and I had, for a long time, been speaking about starting something together and then when this came up, it was such a pleasant surprise.
“But, we needed to decide if we were looking at this because it’s going to provide an amazing life or are we looking at it because there’s a viable business in here?”
The trio began plans to create a floating bar that could service the local wedding industry, tourism industry as well as offer a place for locals to gather together and enjoy their natural surrounds.
They employed researchers to help them decide whether the business could be a success given factors such as Noosa’s aging population, which is ageing at a faster rate than the rest of the state.
“We paid companies to research the demographic and trends and they all came up with issues like well, there are a lot of coffee shops and older people, so it was risky,” Bree said.
But Scott said their determination to stay in Noosa close to family meant they took the plunge and bought the boat.
“In a place like Noosa, you have to create your own job,” he said.
Six months later and the trio have enjoyed a growing client base as a wedding transfer option as well as a thriving Saltwater Sunday session for locals.
“On our first Sunday cruise there were only four people and Franki was one of them,” Bree said.
“We thought oh no, the researchers were right. This is not going to work. But the next week there were 20, and the week after 60, and now we have over 100 people each Sunday.”
