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Nomads travel in uncertain world as crisis escalates

Published: March 22, 2020

As the coronavirus crisis quickly escalates, it is becoming increasingly obvious that it is going to have a huge impact on grey nomads and how and where they travel.

As individual states and territories start to impose their own quarantine restrictions, there is no telling just what comes next.

Yesterday, the Northern Territory followed Tasmania in introducing strict new border controls that require people arriving in the Territory from 4pm on Tuesday to self-isolate for 14 days. There will be some exemptions to the self-isolation requirement for the likes of health and emergency services, defence personnel and freight.

The news adds yet another level of uncertainty to long-term travellers, many of whom are already deeply unsettled by it all. With most long-term travellers in the older demographic, many of whom have underlying health conditions, grey nomads sit squarely in the group considered most vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19.

There also appears to be some confusion about what ‘self-isolation’ means for grey nomads arriving in the Territory after Tuesday. In Tasmania though, the Tasmanian Director of Public Health has advised that motorhomes and caravans are not acceptable locations for visitors to self-isolate. Presumably, that means grey nomads yet to arrive in the state have the choice of either cancelling their trips, or self-isolating in a hotel or similar before beginning their adventures.

There is naturally a significant level of concern about how the new virus will impact the on-the-road lifestyle, and a thirst for information and advice about what the responsible and safest course of action is.

The problem for most people planning a trip and those already on the Big Lap is that the situation is evolving at a dizzying speed, and what is a sensible way to proceed one day might be considered reckless the next. This is a global health crisis like no one has seen in their lifetime. Australia’s borders are closed to non-residents or non-citizens; individual states and territories are imposing their own border controls; elsewhere in the world entire towns, cities and countries are on strict lockdown … and most experts agree that this is almost certainly just the start.

On one hand, grey nomads are hearing calls for them to continue to travel as struggling rural areas need their economic input and, on the other, there are some who say they should stay out of regional areas where they may put a strain on regional health services.

And with the situation changing so rapidly, there are fears that other things might come into play, including more restrictions on movement, or that national parks might be forced to close as some have already done in the US; and even that caravan parks might close their doors to visitors as had happened in Spain.

These are deeply unsettling times and, for the moment, grey nomads and wannabe grey nomads are simply trying to decipher what the various announcements might mean for them … and also what might happen next.

It is no easy task.

• How is the growing health crisis affecting your travels? Are you changing your plans or adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach.
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