So You Plan to do The Lap? – Grey Nomads of Aus’

I’m parked up in another of the many bush camp today, and I do love the bush camp I have discovered. Previously I have written about the delights of a camp out amongst the gum trees, but in our time travelling full time around Aus’ … and for a long time on and off, we have heard so many of our friends and mates comment on how we are living the life. We are dawdling our way around the country on “The Lap” and already we are planning lap No.2 … there is just so much to see and so many adventures to be had. So I thought it was perhaps time to look at just what that means as a lifestyle.

Oldies at Large – Little Joys and Annoys of Freecamping

We are coming up to near a month now where we have been ‘on the road’ freecamping and it has been a wonderful experience. We have only stayed where we have been happy to camp and I have to admit that we have overstayed the odd time embargo at what are idyllic spots. Naughty us… I know. But in these cases we have been welcome to do so with the agreement of those who oversee the management of the freecamp. They really just want you to respect their towns and care for what they value, peace, nature and what is their home.

We have travelled barely 600klm from home base, which has shocked some rels, but we aren’t in a rat race to anywhere so why hurry? We have seen a great deal, most which we haven’t seen before and we have met some truly lovely people … I am not thinking of those rednecks!

Oldies at Large – Man on the Loose

We have left the cool of the hinterland country a day or two early and for reasons that I hadn’t though would bother us. It’s hotter down here on the coastal skirt of land but what has bought us down from the heavens is a date with a mate, though a day or two earlier than we first planned which was unexpected.

The weather in the bush on the plateau was cool to delightful but here on the coastal fringe it is bordering on summer muggy, which you notice after such pleasant days as we had in the forest.

What caused us to leave early was the arrival of a group of bl**dy men who set up camp in the middle of everyone. Redneck males are a pain… and there seems to be more of these single male rednecks about lately too. They seem to all be around 40-65yrs, many with substance abuse problems or suffering the consequence of this or that. All are living a lonely life or a life on the lone.

An Aussie Bounty – Gold and Precious Stones

It was as hot as blazes in SE Queensland last week and due to the wave of heat… we are talking 40C… we have upped camp and moved south into the back plateau country of Northern New South Wales. This is beautiful country, they call it the Northern Rivers country closer to the coast but where we are is the Clarence River Catchment, otherwise known as Gold Country.

The Great Dividing Range runs down the eastern seaboard of Aus. separating the coastline and the rolling plains beyond with the hinterland regions. Then westward it sweeps across the great western farming plains. The rivers that drain west from this dividing range had the adventurers and surveyors looking for an inland sea, which the Aboriginal people said was one of stone and sand. They should have believed them.

Oldies at Large – Giving up the Rituals

Something which I have realised as we move closer to the event of our running away from home and that is giving up all those lovely well known and age old rituals of central family living. Yep… those things that you barely notice at times but which are markers of a family group in practice.

When hubby and I left home on our marriage, after we had returned from our honeymoon all those decades ago, gathering up our goods and chattels we headed north to what was to become home central for our new and growing family.

One of the first things we did once settled was organize the delivery of the Sunday paper. In this ritual we established our intent to nest. This practice of course was way back in the dark ages according to the kids, as was the delivery of the daily bread and milk but those ritual niceties have since fallen by the wayside over the years in the name of progress. Now-aday’s you are the one who delivers the monies to the shop and exchange it for milk and bread… the emphasis no longer on service but on sales.

Oldies at Large – Settling into Retirement

It is taking its time… this retirement business and I truly thought that it would be a breeze. Planning is the key I thought and as true as that is, there are some things you just can’t plan for.

Redundancy bought on early retirement and we have nothing to complain about with the arrangements. It is however the emotional side that takes twists and turns that are unexpected. Our plans have been moulded and managed over a number of years… I am something of a control freak in some things and being able to explore all our interests in our world is one of them.

Oldies at Large

Preparing for the SKI Trip –>  Oldies at Large.

Oldies at Large – The Cradle of the Family – The Bed

About thirty-five years ago now, The Man and I went shopping. I remember it distinctly as a milestone in our marriage. We had been married for several years and by this time had four vegemiters, all welcome and all loved. Money was tight, I had given up work some years since to raise the vegemiters to school age, a decision we had made consciously and the eldest had just reached that touchstone in life.

In the pram was our youngest of the brood and she was to be the last for us and we knew it. Up until that time we had to save diligently for everything we owned or had acquired, mostly we acquired stuff from sales, relatives etc but this day we were out to purchase our third big purchase. A bed. The other two big purchases over the years had been the car and the house, now it was time for the future.

Oldies at Large – Retrenched!

Retirement? It happened to us this week. I have been retired from the work force for a few years now and I must admit that I love it. I love not having to go to work, I love that we can manage well on hubby’s wage now the kids have all gathered up chattels and left. I love that I can spend days planning on gardening, writing, playing with the Grandies and a myriad of other things. It took a long time to arrange our affairs to this practicality.

This week however, the Man was handed a redundancy package and seriously … they did us a favour. We have nothing to complain about though organizing the management of these monies would be the number one priority. It has to last a period of time before we can expect Government assistance in the form of “New Start Allowance” or the “Old Age Pension.”