Tony and Judy have travelled in their Bushtracker for the past 17 years.
While some grey nomads like to travel to a strict plan, veteran adventurers Judy and Tony Sumner have learned there are sometimes huge benefits to being ready to react to unexpected opportunities.
The pair have been on the road for anything up to five months per year for the last two decades, but it was on their very first trip that they learned an important lesson that has stood them in good stead ever since: ‘Don’t be afraid to try something new or to change your plans’.
During those first tentative few weeks on the road, Tony said they suddenly thought: ‘why don’t we have a go at picking grapes?’
In next to no time the Queenslanders were down in Mildura, Victoria, picking grapes. While they admit it was initially a ‘shock to the system’, the couple said they soon got used to the daily routine … and to the extra income.
“We were pretty pleased with our efforts so we then had a go at citrus in Gayndah, cherries in Young, more citrus in Griffith, before going on a more ‘touristy’ trip up into north Queensland,” said Tony. “On that trip, we met a couple in Burketown who had the licence for the ‘Blue Heeler’, an Outback pub in Kynuna… we called in to see them at the ‘Heeler’ on our way back south and ended up helping out for a week or so.”
As has become a theme of their travels, one thing would eventually lead to another … normally a memorable experience. Within days of leaving, the Sumners got a call asking if they could come back to the ‘Heeler’ to help with a wedding reception.
That visit lasted almost eight weeks during which time Tony and Judy met a couple of guests staying in one of the ‘Dongas’.
“Well, they ended up buying the pub licence and called us back the next year for a couple of weeks which ended up being almost seven weeks,” said Tony. “I think we may still have been there except for an emergency in our family!”
The couple have since been around Australia three times, tackling everything from the Gibb River Road and the Plenty Highway, to the Darling River Run and Cape York via the CREB Track.
They have been travelling in their 1999 19’ Bushtracker for the past 17 years and tow it with a 2005 LandCruiser 100 series.
“We generally prefer to camp in the bush at free camps, or on farm stays, often in very remote areas when chasing the ‘yellow metal’,” said Tony. “Sometimes we take a boat with us, but always our fishing rods and metal detectors, and Judy cannot go anywhere without her camera”.
True to form then, it sounds like the couple are ready for pretty much anything.
