While retirees David and Jackie Francis love nothing more than driving off into the sunset in their campervan, sailing off into the sunset in their 9-metre fibreglass yacht isn’t a bad option either.
The lucky couple, who are both in their mid-60s, reckon combining the grey nomad lifestyle with the ‘blue nomad’ lifestyle is about as good as it gets, and they have the smiles and the memories to prove it.
In the seven years since they packed in work, the Tassie based pair have travelled widely around mainland Australia in their Mercedes Sprinter Campervan.
“We free camp about 15% of the time and use caravan parks 85% of the time as we find the caravan parks more suited to where we want to spend our time,” said David. “We live quite rurally about 10 kilometres from pubs, restaurants and shops at home, so caravan parks allow us a few days of walking around the towns and sampling small city living for a change.”
Not surprisingly, the pair tends to take their big mainland trips during the depths of the Tassie winter, and still find time for plenty of warmer weather in-state jaunts … with Coles Bay on the east coast their ‘go-to destination’.
In summer though, it’s generally time for the duo to weigh anchor and hit the Tasmanian waterways.
“The yacht is quite spacious for its size and can sleep six but four people is best for extended nights and days away,” said David. “It has a stove, oven, hot water, sink, club lounge, toilet/shower, and carries 400 litres of water and we treat it as our moveable holiday cottage.”
The vessel is mostly moored on a swing mooring at Copper Alley Bay, Cygnet, which is a few miles by water from the mouth of the Huon River in southern Tassie. A mooring permit costs just $70 per year.
“While the boat is ocean capable, we both prefer to cruise within about five hours sailing time,” said David. “One our favourite destinations is Great Taylors Bay in South Bruny Island which has good fishing and about eight different beaches, each with suitable anchorages in different wind directions.”
It is free to anchor day and night off any beach, and David reckons there is much more space than at caravan parks or at most free camps.
“At several beaches it easy to collect firewood and on-shore Happy Hours are common around a campfire, as well as on-boat Happy Hours,” he said. “If the weather forecast is for light winds it is also common for friends on two or three boats to raft up together off one anchor to make socialising easier than using a dinghy to and fro.”
But when the party is over, David says there is nothing quite like a bit of on-boat solitude, clear starry nights, a quiet whisky or two, and a bit of night fishing at anchor.
“We find the combination of yacht, campervan, home and Tassie are perfect for the lifestyle we can afford,” he said.
I did it for 20 years. Up & down the East Coast as far as Cape Tribulation. There are a hell of a lot more “blue nomads” out there than most people realise. Just hope the various governments don’t realise, they will try and tax it.
This must be an awesome experience, traveling around.
Good on you wonderful.