17 January 2024 is approaching …… the day we board the Spirit of Tasmania (SOT) to engage in a lifestyle as Grey Nomads in Australia. A title proudly accepted by retirees (mostly) in Australia who decide on a nomad lifestyle with their caravans for varying lengths of time. Most decide for a year, but it can be significantly longer pending lifestyle choices. We have finally arrived. 12 January is my last day of full-time 40-hour work (excluding the many, many extra hrs) when I turn my back on a full-time career of 40 years plus. I am not saying never again since I am realistic. Somewhere I will engage in part-time work. One or two days at the most.
But for now – the excitement of engaging in a planned trip. I should not say “planned.” Apart from having an idea of the itinerary we have nothing planned. Not even groceries in the van. Apart from having specific items in place, it is going to be an adventure. We have not booked any caravan parks or overnight facilities. What we can say is: that we depart from Geelong on a huge ferry and arrive in Devonport the next day. We will spend around two months in Tasmania before boarding the ferry again. And we decided to go anticlockwise when arriving in Devonport. The main reason is that we arrive during the summer holiday when the east coast of Tassie is fully booked and more specifically overcrowded. Thus, going to the west coast can help us avoid people and overcrowding.
While a specific itinerary has not been planned, we have been meticulous about certain items that we feel are important:
- An older, well-serviced tow vehicle that answers to all the legal weight requirements of towing a 21ft caravan.
- A reasonably newer model caravan (also fully serviced). We went for the twin axle for benefits in driving.
- Realistic insurances on the above, including a roadside assist package that will take care of the tow vehicle and towing the caravan into town if a breakdown occurs.
- The family home is rented out and our furniture at a reputable storage company.
I think the first three points above are non-negotiable because it makes sense. Some people can afford to hold onto the family home without renting it out, waiting for their return and I envy them. We rely (partly) on the income from our home. Additionally, we are planning to renovate it completely on completing our journey – which means superficial damage in the interim does not concern us. In addition:
- Maintaining a realistic personal health insurance, despite it being a pricy package. Travelling around Australia with varying degrees of health services, and pending locations it can be a risk. This package includes ambulance costs.
- Ferry costs on the SOT were booked ages ago since this route is so popular. Also important was booking the specific length of our tow-vehicle plus caravan, since I have read of disappointments of people turned away if they booked sparingly.
- A recent detailed specialized weigh of the complete tow car plus caravan to be within legal requirements and knowing how to balance our stuff well.
That’s it – this is the important skeleton of our plans. There are other items that I may mention in future, but the above is the gist of it all. Our excitement is building – within a fortnight we are boarding the SOT. We nearly postponed it for too long. But we are likely to do this before being too frail and old. The journey of a lifetime is about to begin.
