Grey nomads called out for common caravanning trait on Aussie roads: 'Entitled'
Experienced farm contractor Victoria says she has been dealing with badly behaved 'grey nomads' for years. Now she's had enough.
An Australian farm contractor who travels around the country for work says she's sick of the behaviour of "rude and entitled grey nomads" at campsites.
Queensland woman Victoria, aged in her 30s, is currently based at Charlotte Plains, an outback sheep station and campground almost 800 kilometres west of Brisbane. She "runs the bar and does a bit of camp hosting" at the site, and said in this job, and in previous roles, it's one generation that consistently proves difficult to deal with — "the grey nomad".
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, the experienced farm contractor said she predominantly works with Australians aged 50 and over. And although she "doesn't want to generalise too much", she does "feel the need to speak out about them" so the younger generation "know what not to do" and become "better people".
Farmhand claims 'grey nomads' the most badly behaved travellers
Victoria said in addition to their "general sense of entitlement", grey nomads in her experience had a tendency to "mansplain" issues she's acutely aware of, flout campsite rules, disregard safety policies and — in one of her most common gripes — even steal from her.
"I've experienced a lot with grey nomads," she told Yahoo. "I've worked on farms for years. I'm very experienced with operating machinery. I drive my caravan well, a lot better than a lot of these guys, some of whom even need help reversing.
"But I guess the biggest issue I find is handling grey nomads, in particular is theft. I travelled South America in my 20s, and the only thing that ever went missing was a jar of Vegemite. Let me tell you, if my stuff is not nailed down, with grey nomads around — they've stolen it."
Victoria said it's "more than just toilet paper" that goes missing at campsites, too.
"It will be hose fittings that are still on the hose. It could be a whole hose. A grey nomad stole my jockey wheel the other day — it's travelled the whole country in the same spot, and then the other day somebody sole it. Even my sunglasses."
Repeated instances of breaking campsite rules
"I don't want to categorise all baby boomers into one, but it's just that these are the people that I deal with," she argued, adding "there are bad people in every generation" but she says she rarely encounters badly behaved travellers under 40.
"Recently, I went to a dump point to empty the waste out of a caravan, and someone stole the dump hose. So normally, there's a two-metre hose that people wash out their toilet cassettes with, and someone had stolen it."
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Victoria said it would've been "contaminated with everyone's toilet waste" and that it was "the grossest thing I have probably ever come across" when it comes to grey nomad behaviour.
"Although, somebody did dump their actual toilet cassette itself in the campground the other day. This couple literally walked with their poo, which they stored, maybe 10 litres of it, and walked two metres from where people park their caravans and then dumped it on top of the ground".
Aussie woman's quest to make boomer generation 'more courteous'
As the Boomer generation settles into retirement, grey nomads have spread out across the country with 4WD and caravan tourism booming in Australia. While Victoria says she doesn't want to over-generalise, she's been astounded by some of the actions she's seen at the hand of the elderly travellers.
"Recently, a grey nomad actually left a log flaming and drove off — it was right near the dry grass and two metres away from a waterway, where they could've disposed of it safely.
"They could have set the whole camp on fire if we got a gust of wind — which we regularly do — they could have sent us all up in flames."
Victoria shared many other similar stories in which she claimed grey nomads deliberately broke camp rules or "thought they knew better than me, despite my experience".
Speaking out in a bid to raise awareness of campsite safety and to deter young people from "acting like baby boomers", Victoria said she hopes by making her ordeals public it'll promote more courtesy from grey nomads in the future.
"The next generation is growing up fast," she said. "Hopefully the younger ones don't do the same things and are bit more courteous to others".
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