Thread: Grey Nomads - things I've learnt in the last few days.

Originally Posted by Chops

hehe,,, Hi again Gav,,
I lived in a caravan park for two years,, and every night, as you've said, its the same thing. They've been doing it like that for years. However, when they are out in the never never, they do tend to sit outside.
You just need to remember that they're doing this everyday, so they probably feel one sunset/sunrise is the same as the next

During my travels up North, I have pulled over at wayside stops, and as they all pull in around late afternoon, they start drinking and partying, well sort of anyway . When they all get together, it can get very entertaining to listen to them.
I suspect, when they pull up in a park, they see it as "quiet time". They spend time doing all the things they cant normally do when out and about.

Chops has summed it up best, while most of us are lucky if we get to go camping or bush for a week or two a year so sitting outside is the thing to do, if your on the road 365 days a year like many are then stars and fires aren't as magic as they are for those who do it seldom.

The other thing is lots of people buy vans and have zero knowledge or interest in going bush or camping. They plan their travels from van site to van site. That's their choice and if they are not hurting anyone then who are we to judge them?

A moron is someone who chooses to drive 10km/hr slower than you do. A lunatic is someone who chooses to drive 10km/hr faster than you do. I never know whether I am being someone else's moron or lunatic at any particular moment.

We developed a theory during our first big outback trip in 2001; that in W.A. the government confiscates the houses of those who reach retirement age and issues them with a Japanese 4wd and a caravan and banishes them to wander the highways until they are ready to come back and go into a nursing home.

While touring for 2 years on our motorhome back in 2004 we meet more than 10 couples that they started their life adventure dream because of one them was terminate ell
It is really sad and I guess that this happens because many of us believe that these things will never happens to us.
In our 2 winters stay in the caravan park while we were building, again many old chaps never returned on the following winter. We learned by their friends that they passed away.
We have to enjoy every minute of this precious life and forget about many material things by getting our priorities right.

Originally Posted by POD

A moron is someone who chooses to drive 10km/hr slower than you do. A lunatic is someone who chooses to drive 10km/hr faster than you do. I never know whether I am being someone else's moron or lunatic at any particular moment.

At first I thought what a foolish statement. I've just been down to Supercheap. Driving at 50km/h in a 60km/h residential/retail area with lots of traffic and pedestrians, was a mid nineties Ford. He wasn't a moron. About five car lengths behind him was me travelling at 10km/h below the speed limit. I wouldn't think I was a moron. "What is this fool POD on about" I thought.
Then I looked in the rear view mirror. Two foot behind me was a moron travelling at 50km/h, two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h and two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h.
You could be onto something there POD.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

........... Two foot behind me was a moron travelling at 50km/h, two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h and two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h.
..............

you had a convoy going there Mick

Originally Posted by Reads90

One thing I learnt when I went around Australia was the grey nomads in Victoria are really different.

Meet a lot in parks in Victoria who had been traveling around Victoria for a couple of years and wondered why we wanted to go around the rest of Australia.

To them the rest of Australia was just sand and flat and brown and nothing to see. So why leave Victoria.

That's really interesting, and backs up my impressions of them. An awful lot turn up here looking like they just bought the place and came to check it out, and they aren't happy about the state of things.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

At first I thought what a foolish statement. I've just been down to Supercheap. Driving at 50km/h in a 60km/h residential/retail area with lots of traffic and pedestrians, was a mid nineties Ford. He wasn't a moron. About five car lengths behind him was me travelling at 10km/h below the speed limit. I wouldn't think I was a moron. "What is this fool POD on about" I thought.
Then I looked in the rear view mirror. Two foot behind me was a moron travelling at 50km/h, two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h and two foot behind him there was another moron travelling at 50km/h.
You could be onto something there POD.

Get one of these in your back window

A couple of points here I've spotted,,

Probably most older folks/retired folks that buy vans really do have no desire to hit "the bush", hence the "van park" mentality,,, ie, sit around watching TV/comp for hours on end. Maybe they just don't see things the way we do
And yes, that's now got me wondering where I will fit in after I've been on the road for a while . Although our situation, if all works out well,, is to camp at a spot/area/town for like six months at a time, get a bit of work etc,, and view the area overall, then move on. (Ohh God no,,, now I'll be seen as the "rape and pillage dude",,, making like a wombat)

The other point noticed was "death". None of us like to talk about, and we certainly get upset etc when its someone close, but its probably there in our minds.
Illness was "the" main reason I decided to retire at 45 and travel. Not mine, but someone I met, at the age of 15-16 whilst at "Ayers Rock" enlightened me to my new thoughts by the time we left the Rock.
Talking with an older guy (newly retired himself), I asked him if he was going to climb up the rock. He said "No, there was no way I could possibly make it up there without probably having a heart attack" Having just witnessed some poor guy who had had an epileptic fit and fallen off to his death, the old guy was rightfully more than worried. Also with the fact that my dad had emphysema, and could do nothing but a slow walk basically since I was about 8 or so added fuel to the fire.
So,, armed with this insight I had just witnessed and spoken about, I made a decision then, on the way home in the bus, to retire at an age where I could still be fit enough, healthy enough to travel and explorer,, not just in a car, but on foot too.

Life happens,,, I'll be doing my retiring at 55 now
But better late than never,,,

So, unless we ask all these individuals "what's up?", we will never know what's going on in their little world. Some choose to shut themselves out, some choose to share all. Don't be cranky with them because their soaking up what might just be their last drive. Just hope in all their thoughts,, they think to remember your in a hurry to get somewhere, and pull over a bit for you