Dear Jaclyn and Heidi,
I have been travelling Australia on my own for the six years since my wife passed. I worked for many years as a mechanic, and have also been an auto electrician, a welder, and am a fair carpenter, as well. As I’ve travelled, I’ve been able to help quite a few distressed grey nomads and other travellers. I get a lot of satisfaction from doing something for others when I can, and this help has always been appreciated. However, it can be a long wait between finding stranded motorists by the side of the road, and I would like to do more. I am always seeing people with 4WDs, or vans, or motorhomes that could do with this or that being done to them. Is it correct etiquette to approach travellers and offer to help them fix up issues? I don’t want or need payment. I just want to help?
Don
Good for you, Don. It is people like you and your willingness and desire to help others as you travel that helps make the Big Lap such a joy for so many grey nomads. I imagine that having you pull up when someone has broken down in the Outback is very much like them winning the traveller’s lottery. However, as you rightly acknowledge, it is a very different thing helping out someone who is clearly in distress and someone who isn’t set up perfectly. I would caution against approaching strangers in van parks or camping areas. It might be better to maybe just mention your skills and willingness to help in casual chats at the amenities block. You might also put up a notice on your own van, advertising your skills and your willingness to help. I am sure you won’t be short of takers!
Jaclyn
Red alert! Red alert! I’m sure you’ve got good intentions Don, but I wouldn’t go around offering to fix up things on other nomads’ less than perfect rigs. If you went into someone’s house and it was untidy, would you offer to vacuum for them? People have different standards. What to your expert eye might look like a dog’s breakfast of a caravan might well be the apple of the owner’s eye. Bottom line … it’s their opinion that counts, not yours. If they’re happy and, importantly, they’re safe, then let them be. That’s not to say you shouldn’t mention it to somebody if you notice their engine about to fall out of their vehicle! Failing that, I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait until you’re ‘lucky’ enough to find another traveller broken down in the middle of nowhere, Don.
Heidi
