Roy Boyle's secret to make it to 100-years-old: beer and black fish

The Port Macquarie resident is the oldest driver in the area with his sports car still in use, orders his shopping online and owns his own boat.

The centenarian celebrated his 100^th birthday with over 70 friends and family at the Port Macquarie Golf Club on December 16, 2023.

"I don't feel much different," he said.

"It seems to be a long time coming for the last 12 months but now its over.

"So I've got to look at 105, I tell them."

The Port Macquarie Hastings Local Government area has been home to plenty of centenarians, each with their own advice on how to reach the milestone age.

Mr Boyle said his secret to reaching 100-years-old was not because of his genes.

"I told the boys it was old beer and blackfish," he said.

"Not that I was a drinker- I just had a beer when I played golf."

Mr Boyle, who now no longer drinks, was born in Summer Hill, NSW in December 16, 1923 but later moved to Hornsby with his parents and younger sister Doreen.

Mr Boyle can still remember the historic events he lived through during his childhood.

Growing up during the Great Depression, Mr Boyle's father worked as a builder.

"He started to do an architects course after the war but with a young family, he couldn't keep it up," Mr Boyle said.

His father had fought in World War I and was injured while at Mouquet Farm on the Western Front.

Mr Boyle and his sister counted that their father had to undergo 54 operations on his hip where shrapnel had hit it.

"They had to keep scraping the bone because it kept decaying," he said.

"But when they bought out penicillin, it just stopped like that.

"It was just amazing."

It was during his childhood on his family boat that Mr Boyle fell in love with boating.

He didn't sell the moor that his family frequented until 1998.

"I used to work on that boat with Dad because it was old and it was always needing something done with it," he said.

Mr Boyle served in Australian Army during World War II for five years where he was trained as a motor mechanic.

He spent two years in Papua New Guinea where he dealt with the treacherous Bulldog Track which led supplies past the Lakekamu River.

"That was the highlight of my career and the most difficult thing I ever had," Mr Boyle said.

"The trouble was with the terrain.

"There was never a day that went by where there wasn't a landslide."

Mr Boyle recalls when himself and another mechanic had taken a two hour drive on the track but had to hike back after a landslide interrupted them.

The trek took six days with the two mechanics carrying their packs, rifles and tool kits through the humid terrain.

When they finished their journey, Mr Boyle had to be taken to hospital with blistered feet and dermatitis.

"I said to my mates, at least we weren't being fire at like they were on the Kokoda Trail," he said.

Mr Boyle also kept up his passion for boats while overseas.

With Americans beginning to move out in the last part of the war, Mr Boyle exchanged a 38 foot patrol boat for just a bottle of scotch.

After the war, Mr Boyle returned home and met his future wife Joan at a Scout dance.

The pair went on to have many happy memories over their 65 years of marriage including attending car rallies together with Joan as Mr Boyle's navigator.

Mr Boyle went to work with a Chrysler dealership and also owned a service station.

After 30 years in the car industry, he made a career change and went to work in real estate for 25 years.

"[My family] said to me 'Mr Trifecta, what happened to insurance?" Mr Boyle said.

"I didn't retire until I was 72."

"I was enjoying myself too much."

In 1998, he and his wife made the move to Port Macquarie where Joan later passed away from breast cancer in 2011.

Mr Boyle still remains an active member of the community as a member of the Rotary Club (and honorary member of the Hornsby Rotary Club), has led the ANZAC day march, and regularly visits his local cafe.

Hanging in his window are not only cards and letters from government officials and King Charles II but from his many friends and family.

Aside from a shoulder injury, Mr Boyle says he has no hip or knee troubles and credits the army for his health.

"I went in a skinny 17-year-old...but I came out a 12 stone man," he said.

"I reckon all young people should do two years of national service.

"It'd make a lot of difference to them...because they'd make great friends and it would straighten them out."

Mr Boyle's advice for young people hoping for a long and successful life is to surround themselves with positive people.

"You've got to get with a good group of friends that will lead you the right way," he said.

"You've got to get with people that have the right attitude."