Like most of the country, grey nomads now anxiously await daily news conferences in which the leaders of the various states and territories announce latest Covid figures, and perhaps offer clues about what new restrictions might be imposed … or when current restrictions might be lifted.
It’s a Big Lap of incredible uncertainty at the moment, with most travellers simply having to adopt a sit tight and wait-and-see policy.
However, even doing that can be challenge.
The ABC reports that some grey nomads are being stranded in the Outback, with several camgprounds running out of sites.
Mount Isa’s Sunset Caravan Park manager, Kylie Rixon, told the ABC she was now turning people away ‘left, right and centre’.
“Just at our park we would probably turn away at least 30 a day,” Ms Rixon said. “That’s going to get worse over the next day or two with Darwin and seeing what happens there.”
She said she was doing what she could to help those who found themselves stuck.
“We’re just trying to put people in where we can — people are just looking for places,” she said. “We’ve had people in the driveway, we’ve had people in the car park, because they’ve just got nowhere else to go.”
And, of course, it’s not just grey nomads who are unsure what to do next. This is school holiday time and families are being caught up in the unfolding drama.
The White family from Melbourne escaped post-lockdown Victoria to have a pandemic break. But the family are now stuck in Mount Isa in Queensland and are worried about the effects of a possible wider lockdown, and how they could get home.
Scott White told the ABC the ‘goal posts were just moving all the time, so you couldn’t organise things’.
“We’ve still got another two weeks on our trip, so we’ll see how we go,” he said. “You’ve got to hope, and you’ve just got to roll with the punches — if you don’t, you just get depressed.”
Patricia O’Callaghan from Destination Gold Coast said it had been heartbreaking for the tourism industry, with the impacts of the recent announcements being felt almost immediately.
“We were all relying on these school holidays — they were going to be a critical part of our recovery and we are seeing the cancellations are coming through thick and hard,” Ms O’Callaghan told the ABC. “As an industry, we are certainly in a holding pattern at the moment.”
Hi can you go into NT from Adelaide via Stuart Highway, we want to go to Lorella Springs
In May we went from Melbourne to Adelaide, planning to spend a week there then come back to tour Victoria. While we were in Adelaide, Victoria was locked down. Life was fairly relaxed where we were staying in SA, so we stayed an extra fortnight before coming home. It is not all bad. Camped in a clean, well-maintained CP overlooking the beach.
Yep! I’ve definitely put my lap plans on hold… again and am happily sitting tight in the Wimmera/Mallee region in northwest Victoria. I was in Adelaide in May with plans to head north after that with a one week booking at Uluru and plans to head across to Winton, QLD and down through the outback route for a “mini lap” but still suffering from what I call Covid-PTSD after enduring 2 loooong lockdowns in my caravan already in unfamiliar places, and fearful of ending up stuck somewhere remote again, I opted to turn back and stick it out here a while. Feels pretty safe here and I can’t deal with the anxiety of the rapidly changing restrictions, snap lockdowns, border restrictions… it’s certainly taken the puff out of my nomad dreams that’s for sure!
No more travel for me in the foreseeable future. Tried to head off to sunny Qld for the winter but a series of medical & mechanical incidents delayed my departure & when I eventually started heading off, 2 days into the trip another medical episode turned me back home. That was after SA shut the border so now I’m in isolation. Now I’m thinking all the delays were signs I should’ve listened to & this year’s Qld trip was the one I was never meant to do. Maybe the freedom of travel is becoming a lost dream.
Since retiring eight years ago, we have travelled extensively during the colder months, in our ensuite off road van. Usually about half the time in free camps, and others in van parks. This year, due to the huge unprecedented demand, we have had to change our plans/route and mainly stay in parks. Due to overflowing free camps, we have now been booking up to three months ahead, just to secure a site!
As free camps are decreasing, and there are considerably more travellers on the road, the future doesn’t look ideal, unless booking at popular locations well in advance, making travelling more stressful…
We have put our Northen trip off for this year because of the uncertainty.
Here In Collarenebri the FREE Camp is still open and by next year we will have a beautiful BORE BATH, please come around our way for some great country hospitality, and the Back Roads Coffee shop ain’t too bad either 🙂