Over their decades of serious off-road travelling, Ray and Veronica Burkin weren’t the biggest fans of grey nomads … until they got older and began craving the luxury of a caravan themselves!
The couple’s first off-grid trip of real significance was back in 2000 when they took four weeks to travel the Canning Stock Route in an 80 series LandCruiser and a tent … a trip Veronica – who likes to be called Ronnie – describes as ‘one hell of an adventure’.
The pair then started travelling in a Tvan towed by a 200 Series LandCruiser, before trading that in for a 79 Series LandCruiser Ute in 2012.
“We added a canopy which had a bed located at the top,” said Ronnie. As the years and adventures rolled by, so too did the couple’s working lives.
That was then, this is now! Ray and Ronnie have 'graduated' to a more luxurious rig.
“In 2024 we eagerly awaited the arrival of our retirement so we could finally join the grey nomads who, some 40 years ago, had been the brunt of many jokes,” said Ronnie. “Life is full of irony, right?”
And so, with travelling comfort more on their minds, the Burkins bought a D-Max dual cab, and ordered a new New Age 19’ Manta Ray Adventurer.
“No more bush toilets and climbing stairs!” said Ronnie
Ray and Ronnie love life on the road … whatever they are travelling in!
While the van was billed as a semi-offroad unit, the very first trip the veteran adventurers tackled was WA’s Gibb River Road.
Their first stop on the iconic track was Windjana Gorge where it promptly rained for four days which meant the pair had to then be escorted out by rangers as the road was still officially closed.
While some gorges were inaccessible due to the wet, Ray and Ronnie still loved the scenery and the whole experience.
“A must do is a soak in the thermal pools at Zebedee Springs,” said Ronnie. “All in all, the trip was a great opportunity to give the van a shake down.”
The Burkins’ latest adventure was earlier this year, when they headed up to explore the Pilbara and, in particular, Millstream National Park.
“The vista was amazing with lots to see but we were disappointed by the condition of the national park gravel roads,” said Ronnie. “At one point, I looked over at Ray and said ‘I think this road is worse than the Gibb!’ … bone rattling, jaw-shattering corrugations were, apparently, a condition of park entry, part and parcel of the adventure.”
While Ronnie and Ray – who loves to fossick for rocks to cut and polish – are a resilient pair, they were pretty shaken when they, and two others, had their vans broken into while they slept in a Carnarvon caravan park recently.
They urge their fellow travellers to be security conscious and to always lock up and, if in any doubt, to use a steering and/or wheel lock.
“We now mostly use the wheel lock and a Cruisemaster pin lock if we are leaving the van unattended,” said Ronnie. “It is a sad reality … but we won’t let it deter our determination to continue to explore our beautiful country.”
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