To those followers who have never been to Australia, let me explain a few Australian terms that are used freely by travellers in this great country. I’m a kiwi (New Zealander) and this is what I’ve learned in Australian culture. My wife is Australian.
Grey Nomad – many retired couples, and singles, buy a motor home, or caravan, and tour from a month a year up to 12 months a year. Some have sold their residence and banked the money.
A lap – around the perimeter of Australia is a national highway. This is driven either clockwise or anticlockwise, so you keep the ocean on the left, or the right as the case may be. We did an anticlockwise lap in 2024 which took us 7 months and 16,000 kilometres. This map gives you an idea which month the weather is good for touring.
The West – Australia has 6 states. The largest state is West Australia known as “the west”. A large portion of the west is desolate but contains valuable minerals like iron, steel, and rare minerals used in devices and batteries for electric cars. This is exported to many countries around the globe and is a major source of income for the country.
Top End – Queensland is a vast state spreading to the north towards the equator. Many grey nomads flock to Queensland to miss the southern winter. The weather from May to October is days of blue skies and warm temperatures but not overly hot. To the far north, we call the area “the top end”. This region is north of Cairns. There are no sealed roads from Cooktown and 4WD is the obvious safest way to travel. That is what we will be doing from June 18-26 this year.
There are many Australian terms which often leave visitors wondering “what are they talking about”. To improve your useable word list, come to Australia for a 6 month “go where you may” tour. The lifestyle and language used is truly enlightening.
We left our home near Melbourne at the end of April heading to an annual Grey Nomads Camp where we met up with many friends we have known or worked with over the years. Lots of experiences are relived each year we go.
Our daughter lives at Grafton, which is an hour or two north from the convention location, We spent a weekend at Brooms Head on the coast together with her and son in law. Paul’s daughter and her boyfriend camped with us. It turned out he is a diesel mechanic – just the sort of patient mechanic we needed to find the fuel leak in the generator. We now have a non leaking working generator after limping along the past 6 years with numerous professionals trying to remedy the problem along the way.
From Brooms Head, we made the days travel to the Gold Coast where we had the motor home serviced to ensure that facilities work freely and well. The motor home has a full length slide out and a hydraulic levelling system. Both need regular checks.
On the way out of the Sunshine Coast region is a ginger factory, a nut factory and a coffee factory; all worth a visit and a taste. The ginger factory has an emphasis on testing different ways to produce ginger based products. The ginger scones are the favourite.
Then travel to Childers where we found a great farm stay with bush walks that went for a few kilometres each. Sadly, very short on wildlife to take photos of and share. We will be back on our way south, though.
From Childers we found the Calliope Free camp again. This is a nice and peaceful river side spot for an overnighter but still a long way to travel before the start of our tour to the top end.
We had seen some fabulous colours at Clairview when traveling a few years ago and decided to take a night there this time. Ocean fishermen are attracted to this stop point on the coast. The tide was well out while we were there and the overcast skies hid the colour of the ocean. So all we could see was “mud flats”.
North of Claireview is Rockhampton where we always catch up with a fellow travel agent that Lyn had as a roommate on an educational river cruise in France and a river cruise on the Mekong River in Vietnam. After a couple of hours of coffee and chat, our next night was at a pleasant campground in Bowen.
Our next night was spent with only 2 other rigs in Ingham at the Caravan and Motor home camp; just $5 a night with no facilities. We are “self contained” so that is no problem.
During the last day of travel to Cairns, we stopped at Cardwell for the mid morning coffee and cake at the bakery. There was a major accident at the roundabout just as we entered the town involving a utility and a Jayco motor home; not a good look with ambulance already in attendance. Cardwell is well known as “the town that has crab sandwiches”. Our diet does not sit well with that sort after cuisine, which saved the sandwich artist the task.
Fortunately, on our way into Cairns, there was a caravan repair shop that had an external door handle available to replace the broken one which broke who knows where. Weird things have shown up since having the service done back on the Gold Coast. The sliders for a large drawer have also decided not to function smoothly. We’ve learned that Bunnings have the “spare parts”.
The reason for constant daily driving this week was back at Childers, we had bad news that my half brother had taken his last breath in Auckland, New Zealand. Due to my Traumatic Brain Injury, I find I get confused when amongst crowds and need a carer, so can’t travel alone. Lyn’s passport was shortly to expire and we thought it best to get to Cairns in a hurry and hopefully we could cry for help, but “no” was the answer. The memorial service was held the day before we arrived in Cairns. He was 84. RIP David. We were fortunate to see him during our NZ cruise in January this year.
We have arrived in Cairns and have decided to stay at a caravan park and do day trips in the Suzuki, which is why we’ve had that thing dragging along behind us from home. No no, definitely a blessed idea.
great life - retired got nothing on 