Grey nomads and young families are on the loose everywhere! I'm traveling around Australia at the moment and it's wonderful to see so many fellow travelers who had the same idea. Stories to tell, happy-hour at 5 p.m., irrelevant of where you're camped up for the night, and then there is that arrival and departure portion of the day... my favorite!
Arriving at any free camp spot should be done before 3 p.m. or you've got very little hope of securing a nice spot far away from the smelly long-drop toilets that reek so bad, one could literally vomit. For those not familiar with the Aussie long-drop (bush toilet), imagine a deep, narrow hole in the ground, plonk a steel round drum on top, connect a few sheets of corrugated iron around this contraption, attach something that looks like a door, and voilà your outback 'dunny' (Australian slang for toilet) is ready. No water, no flushing... just kick the lid open with your foot, because you seriously do not want to touch it, and do what you came to do. Your Australian icon in a nutshell!
Arrivals after 5 p.m. are regarded as a nuisance, disturbing peaceful happy-hour, kicking up a dust which settles in your wine glass... unless you've cracked a stubby, then you're relatively safe. They are eyed from the moment their vehicle turns in and discussed at great length by happy-hour participants. Half-suppressed, scornful sniggers do the rounds as these poor campers struggle to firstly find a decent camp spot, secondly, end up next to or down-wind from the dreaded smelly contraption. Every move they make is carefully observed, discussed how they could do it better or differently, and finally after the dust settles everyone concentrates back on their drink in-hand. Truly bizarre behavior!
After happy-hour most grey nomad campers quickly retreat inside their caravans, those with kids are not so lucky to get away from the flies and mosquitoes, and are still running around grumbling something about the flies, the smell, or what's for dinner! I really feel for those poor buggers because I've been there and done that! And it's not pleasant, but on the other hand it's an experience of a lifetime, and for some unknown reason we keep doing these camping trips, and subjecting ourselves to these weird rituals. Life is Wonderful!
During the dark hours we hear sounds... weird sounds, grinding noises, thumping noises, doors slamming, strange squeaks, odd clanging, hysterical giggling, extreme snoring, heavy breathing, rustling and rattling noises. Uncanny that my unknown neighbor is sounding like a wombat during the night, laying only a couple of meters from my head. His tremendous grunts and rhonchus sounds coming from his bronchial airways set us into fits of laughter initially, but after half an hour it becomes insufferable. When is dawn? We are in desperate need of finding our private, isolated camp spot as these designated free camp sites can be hideous and deficit of sleep. And don't get me started on those nasty camping chairs...
Once your settled into these saggy chairs there's little hope of climbing out of them especially with a bad back. Your legs ache, blood gets cut-off, and your back suffers for hours afterward. Most of the time I'll try to avoid sitting in these contraptions, probably invented by some 20 year old with "six-pack" abs, and zero consideration for us older folks. Mind you, after a couple of drinks they do become more comfortable. More like glamping!
This morning I watched one of my fellow travelers pack-up and depart our lovely free camp-spot. The lady of the caravan sat inside all morning while hubby ran around packing up everything. His stress levels visibly rising by the minute. Awning wound up, chairs loaded in the back of the Ute, caravan legs up, windows closed, hitched-up properly, check, check, check.
Finally... last thing to do, get the wife into the car. Reluctantly she left her cozy spot inside the caravan and flopped in the car... all the while he was holding the car door open for her. After gently closing the car door he crossed himself, no doubt for the strength he needed for the remaining journey, and off they went. Tyres ripping up the dust as they went past, covering us in another fine film of red dust, and displaying their pink and green underwear, socks, and bras, flapping in the wind on the back of their caravan. The anguish he will have to endure further down the track, but the joy of fellow travelers seeing this wonderful display. An extraordinary sight to behold!
Photos and written work is my own.
©️ingridontheroad
That old chestnut. Lol.
I'm lucky though, mine pitches in. Makes it all easier and we can hit the road that much quicker.
That's great... I love watching how people do things. It is hilarious sometimes and makes for a good giggle. No doubt others do the same to us and we make an odd couple struggling with gear 🤣
I usually like remote areas away from others, but on those occasions people are around it's often amusing watching them set up or pack down. We have bets on how long and how severe the arguments will be. 😊
🤣 that's a new one... I reckon I would win. Even hubby's timing is out. One hour usually ends up being 3 hours!
We have a full off road camper trailer and have the set up and pack down worked out like clockwork. Eight to twelve minute partial (overnight) set up and about about fifteen to pack down the same, so, it's not much of a show.
It's funny to see people set up their deck chairs to watch the show and then moments later it's like, done, and I'm sitting on my deck chair with a beverage watching them back. 👀
It's the newbies that have me concerned. Because of Covid and the lock downs, people have bought all these caravans and have never done it before. Hit the road, totally unprepared, and often dangerously overloaded. Scary!
Yep, the overload situation is not good.
I have a LandCruiser and did a GVM upgrade to ensure I could carry/tow the loads without breaking the law or voiding my insurance. It's too much to lose just for the sake or $3,000 or suspension, engineering certificate and going over the pit at the DMV. I was doing the lift anyway, just made sense to pay the extra $600 for the engineering and inspection.
Thank you. I love this community. Great posts by members.
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I am quite disappointed in this.
Why so late?
🤣 happy hour anytime you reckon? Grey nomads mate.... responsible late afternoon then hit the road still tipsy early morning, hopeless.
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