Follow me ... grey nomads are heading north in numbers
It’s been a year like no other, but it seems like the grey nomad season in the north has finally kicked into something like top gear.
The Cairns Post reports that caravan parks across the Queensland city have been enjoying a surge in visitors, some three weeks after the state border reopened to much of the country on July 10.
Cool Waters Holiday Park owner Sue Crowe told the paper that there had been ‘a big increase’, with mostly grey nomads making the trek up north.
“We’re probably about 80% full in our powered sites and there’s been a lot of phone and internet bookings coming in for the weeks ahead,” Ms Crowe said. “What we’re finding is a lot of people just turning up. They’re confident there’s space, but we’ll get to a point when there isn’t.”.
Ms Crowe said that while they have had visitors from South Australia and New South Wales to the park, most visitors were from southeast Queensland.
A spokesman at NRMA Palm Cove Holiday Park said grey nomads had also made up the bulk of the visitors to that park, which had been ‘close to capacity during July’.
“While bookings are looking positive for the next few months, the NRMA is taking a safety-first approach and is closely monitoring any changes to ensure we are adhering to government guidelines,” the spokesman said.
In the Northern Territory town of Katherine, grey nomads – particularly those from Queensland and South Australia – were reportedly helping to swell numbers at local van parks.
However, things aren’t quite back to ‘normal’
The Katherine Times reports that, with the major population centres in the south still banned from entering the Territory, visitor numbers were lower than some had expected. Western Australia’s closed border also means few residents there are willing to risk being unable to return home any time soon.
Many of those who have come also appear to be prioritising Darwin over Katherine in the short window remaining before the build-up and wet season arrives
Riverview Tourist Village manager Fiona Young said some travellers had told her they will extend their travels past the start of the wet season this year.
“That is my hope, that people will stay longer and we’ll get that extra period of business,” she said. “I know people are going straight past us up to Darwin, but I hope we’ll still get them on their way back.”
Grey nomads Phillip and Marnie Bishop had made it as far as Katherine having travelled from their at home in Waikerie in South Australia as soon as the border opened.
They told the Katherine Times that they believed nomads everywhere were still ‘desperate’ to come, but too many simply can’t because of travel restrictions.
“I don’t think people have just given up on holidaying this year,” Mr Bishop said. “But we know a lot of people have skipped Katherine this year and decided to just go straight to Darwin or over to Queensland,” she said.
We are doing the opposite and heading south to the sunshine coast. We haven’ t been to Noosa in nearly 20 years, it’s always too full of Victorians to get a site.
We’ve travelled from the Sunshine Coast to Darwin. Spent some time in Katherine on way and will travel through Kakadu as we head South. Would love to go across to WA but no news on border opening yet.