Most full-time grey nomads who decide to take a break from life on the open road tend to move back into a house rather than turning to life on the open water … but Austin and Jillian Lawrence aren’t most grey nomads!
A few years ago, the couple from Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, spoke to Grey Nomads about how they eventually decided to swap the bitumen for the deep blue sea.
The pair started the ‘on-road’ sector of their wanderings all the way back in 2012 when they put their belongings in storage, rented out their house and went in search of adventure in their brand new 21’ Vacationer Holiday Series caravan towed by a Holden Colorado twin cab ute with a canopy.
Having been grey nomads, Austin and Gillian tried being blue nomads
They first hotfooted it up to the Northern Territory where Austin had unexpectedly been offered a temporary job on a remote cattle station servicing all the motor vehicles, bore pumps and generators.
It was a leap into the unknown and, as they headed through Timber Creek and past the Victoria River Roadhouse towards the cattle station, Gillian recalls the sense of nervous anticipation.
And they immediately took to life on the ocean waves.
“With excitement, anxiety and apprehension we finally saw a roof in the distance and drove through the gate,” she said. “And then this beautiful green, acreage of manicured lawns opened up like an oasis.”
Jillian was then instantly offered the job of gardener and suddenly found herself learning to ride a ride-on mower and use hedge trimmers.
“For the four months we were there, we were very busy with each of our jobs and endured the continual 32/34 degree heat,” she said. “I, on many occasions walked through the sprinklers to cool off and we also had a lot of fun with our co-workers; jillaroos, jackeroos, cattlemen, and the governess to the owner’s three young children.”
Over subsequent years, the couple has traversed the country enjoying all the grey nomad lifestyle has to offer.
“We spent most of the time in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales,” said Jillian. “And we met lots of wonderful people and spent many a happy hour sharing stories of travels and adventures.”
However, as they chewed up the kilometres on the highways and byways, a lurking longing to buy a boat and set sail for a new form of adventure took hold.
And they said farewell to their trusty and very well-travelled caravan
“We put the caravan up for sale and started looking for another yacht to enjoy doing some more bluewater cruising,” said Gillian. “And it didn’t take too long to find a suitable boat that we were happy with, a 37’ Cape Barren Goose named ‘Korawinga’.”
As they were already familiar with cruising areas on the New South Wales coast, the couple spent a bit of time weighing anchor and doing little jobs like replacing a few of the sheets, adding a marine barbecue, and adding a boom tent to make the boat more comfortable.
And then it was off to the cruising lifestyle and visits to the many islands off the Queensland coast and jaunts around the Whitsundays.
“It’s been fantastic to be able to explore Australia in the land in our caravan and on the water on our yacht!” said Jillian.
