Grey Nomading


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Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Coober Pedy
June 25th 2016
Published: June 25th 2016
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Grey Nomads are retired Australians who cash in their super cheques, buy humongous caravans complete with a satellite dish and bike racks and then go travelling to warmer climes for the winter. The Stuart Highway from Port Augusta towards Darwin is packed with them, all heading out at sunrise, pulling in to the next caravan park in time for afternoon tea and a chat with friends from the road. Every evening there are one or two other tiny AVans, like Lina, tucked unobtrusively into corners, and people always greet us courteously, but they know that we are not serious enough, not real Grey Nomads.

Two months to travel the 3000 kilometers from Adelaide to Darwin seems like a lot of leisurely time. Plenty of time to visit all those famous Oz icons, check out the National Parks and see the World Heritage Listed sites before our wise government delists them all. But we are beginning to question whether or not it really is enough time. When is there ever really enough time to do everything that we want to do?

One week in and we are learning lots. We have learnt that driving 600 kilometres in one day is as tiring as going to work, and so we need a rest day to recover. We have decided that rest days are a legitimate way to spend travel time. Sometimes, it is not possible to have a powered site, so there is no electricity for the night. Internet and telephone connections are spasmodic. Surprisingly, AVans are tiny. AVans are much smaller than an inner Tokyo apartment and neither contain an oven. I am struggling with the idea that it is OK for things not to be perfectly tidy in our AVan. Living is messy and requires a little chaos, even when we are on holidays.

However, the scenery is spectacular, the sunsets are superlative and the landscape washed fresh and scattered with wildflowers from the rain. If we keep practicing, one day we might graduate to become real Grey Nomads.


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Blower..ing along


25th June 2016

Enjoy yourselves. It was sooo good to catch up....thanks for sharing my celebrations. Safe travels xx
25th June 2016

Awesome!!
Amazing country we live in heh?? Enjoy ?

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