STORY:
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's the journey of a lifetime. The great generational migration has tens of thousands of older Australians hitting the road, not only to escape the southern winter, but to embark on a spiritual journey to the centre of Australia and far beyond. Now in the cold cities down south, there are a lot of younger people who are saying, "This generation of retired Australians are a bit selfish, they're just into enjoying themselves."
RETIREE: Isn't that a fact? Isn't that a fact? Why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves?
STUART MANN: We are answerable to nobody. We don't have to turn up at any particular time, we don't have to wear a tie or a suit. We don't have to toe the line for anybody at any time. We call all the shots. Australians aged 55 and older are at the forefront of the rediscovering of this country. And they've created a national tourism boom, spending more than $10 billion a year on their travels. There are more than 325,000 caravans, motor homes and camper trailers currently registered and, at any one time, up to 80,000 of them are on what's known as the big lap around Australia. Out on the road you find them everywhere from Kosciuszko to Kakadu, from Broome to Cape York, but there's one place that's on the very top of all of their wish lists and that's out here in the red dust of Central Australia in the slanting afternoon light just before the sun sets on the Rock.
FRED DYER: Almost sunset. It's 5.45 now.
CHARLES WOOLEY: This is like a religious observation.
FRED DYER: It is, it is. You sit and watch and every time you look at the rock, the colour has changed just slightly. If you turn away for five minutes to have a talk with someone and look back, it's a different colour. It really is amazing, you know.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Brisbane nomads Fred and Kath Dyer are three-and-a-half months into an odyssey that could last three years or even a lifetime. How long do you think you could stay out there?
KATHE DYER: Indefinitely.
FRED DYER: I think almost indefinitely, you could, yeah. There isn't much we haven't got with us. We travel pretty well and pretty comfortably. So there really is nothing we haven't got.
CHARLES WOOLEY: At Queensland's caravan and camping expo the largest of its kind in Australia you soon realise what a massive industry going bush has become. Much more than a swag and a terry-towelling hat. A new caravan is manufactured every 14 minutes and the choice is mind boggling, from decadent luxury to fair dinkum camping.
SALESMAN: They're very easy to set up. We can go from this mode here, what we call our track mode, to something like this four or five minutes, one person.
CHARLES WOOLEY: I had been looking at around the $22,000, $23,000 mark. What's this?
TROY: Something like this on the road, 750.
CHARLES WOOLEY: This isn't so much getting away from it all as taking it all with you. The new Swagmaster comes with washing machine, fridge, ensuite, air conditioning and a 350 turbo-charged diesel to pull the lot. How many have you sold?
TROY: Well, this we've got over 4000 vehicles on the road over a 22-year history.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Four thousand? You think I would have run into one of them by now.
TROY: Yeah, Australia's like a Bermuda triangle. They all sort of disappear when they leave the shed.
BERNARD SALT: If 4.1 million people decide to go caravaning and camping, then, stand back the industry just explodes and that is precisely what I think will happen over the next decade.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Australia's leading demographer, Bernard Salt, has been counting them out. He knows a population trend when he sees one and predicts we're only at the beginning of a nomadic explosion.
BERNARD SALT: The baby boomer generation born between 1946 and 1961 are now hitting their 50s and, in vast numbers, are looking for a sea change or a lifestyle shift. Adventurers, discoverers, people seeking an experience if you like. This is a redefinition of the 50-something time in life by the boomers.
HEDY MCALEESE: You've worked hard for so long, so many years being tied down to timetables and all of sudden you just say, "That's it, we don't have to anymore so we're not."
CHARLES WOOLEY: For Russell and Hedy McAleese the decision to follow their migratory urge was spurred by the realisation that time was running out when a good friend was stricken with cancer.
RUSSELL MCALEESE: It was one of the things that really hit home to me. You're only on the planet for a short time and there's things that we wanted to do that we hadn't done. I mean I've been running a business since I was 22 years of age.
CHARLES WOOLEY: So they hit the road and they're not coming back.
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Doing what we're doing, it's been just absolutely fantastic for our relationship. I mean we've been married 33 years this year.
CHARLES WOOLEY: So it is romantic?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Yes.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And that's why you don't want to be called a grey nomad?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: True.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Because you're a hunter and a lover?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Yes.
BERNARD SALT: Well, grey nomads is a term that has evolved from somewhere over the last 10 or 15 years and it's a term that will not be countenanced by the baby boomer generation. It's a downbeat, daggy term. Grey nomads are out.
STUART MANN: It does sort of put you in the done rootin' category pardon the expression but it really does sort of, to me, it does put you in that. And I feel that that sort of comes about quickly enough in life without really, sort of, promoting it you know? Who wants to sort of put the flag up and say, 'Hey, this is us. We're all done'?
CHARLES WOOLEY: Stuart and Judy Mann call themselves sun birders. They've rented out their house and for the past three years, they've been full-time, following the sun. Home for the Manns and their dogs is the car, the caravan and the empty horizon.
JUDY MANN: It's a very addictive thing. And it's hard to explain. Once you get going, it just grows and grows and it just gets better.
STUART MANN: It's the closest thing to freedom that you ever get, the feeling of no stress and you haven't got all the wankers in the world that I've had to deal with in business all my life suddenly you're cut free.
BERNARD SALT: The shift of the baby boomers into the 50-something time in life is actually changing the settlement of Australia. This is the generation that created the great Australian suburbia, that we now celebrate with Neighbours and Kath and Kim. That suburbia is now on the move. [Up to] 4.1 million people hitting the road is an extraordinary impact, both financially, culturally and socially across Australia.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Broome in the top end of Western Australia is the nation's grey nomad capital. At the last national census, there were more people living in caravans here than anywhere else in the country. It's the magic hour and everywhere you look you see modern sundowners like the Tucks spending the kids' inheritance and enjoying the Indian Ocean sunset. Is it a totally irresponsible and care-free life?
MRS TUCK: Yes, it is.
RETIREE: I just tell my children that we can't take our money with us when we go, but we can leave our debts behind.
CHARLES WOOLEY: The Kimberly is possibly the last frontier of tourism in Australia, but travelling around this last week, I found it was like this everywhere. All over the country, the new pioneers were reclaiming regional Australia and reshaping it sometimes in surprising ways. We're doing a little trip down this rough, red byway, 'cause I'm following a rumour. I've heard that down here, somewhere out there where the red earth meets the Indian Ocean, there's a grey nomad camp and unbelievably, they've built there a bowling green. This must be about as remote as a bowling green gets. Quite frankly, I was bowled over by this little place called Barn Hill. Those who love and cherish this remote spot want to keep it a secret. But with so many of them on the road now, secrets are harder to keep.
ANN SHILLING: I think people are inclined to stay at home more now and they're travelling around Australia far more than what they used to, because they used to go overseas. So I think we see far more new rigs come in here than we ever saw before.
CHARLES WOOLEY: The baby boomers have cashed in their superannuation...
ANN SHILLING: Yeah, I think they're staying close to home. They feel safer to travel around Australia.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And some have sold their houses, of course.
ANN SHILLING: Oh, yes, lots. Lots.
CHARLES WOOLEY: From Mick and Ann Shillings' million-dollar cliff-top view to Len and Tess Clarke fishing on the beach. And from the ladies knitting in Dot's Corner to the gentle action on the bowling green. Barn Hill is like a 21st century commune, a friendly pit stop for travellers on a journey that will only end when they do.
TESS CLARKE: Sitting out in the boat right there, they may have a better chance today, but you never know.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's all about the time of day and the tide, isn't it?
TESS CLARKE: Yes and there's tomorrow, too.
CHARLES WOOLEY: There's always tomorrow.
TESS CLARKE: Yes, there's always tomorrow. Come back again.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Isn't that wonderful?
TESS CLARKE: Yes, that's the way to be. Clear conscience and live for tomorrow and today.
CHARLES WOOLEY: You've got me. So when people say to you, "This is selfish, this is typical 'me generation', this opting out and doing your own thing..."
STUART MANN: I say 'Yes! That's us. We're doing it. We're on the road, boy...' And I tell you what, we're going to stay there. We're staying right there for as long as we can. Just heading into the sunset. That's it, Charlie.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's the journey of a lifetime. The great generational migration has tens of thousands of older Australians hitting the road, not only to escape the southern winter, but to embark on a spiritual journey to the centre of Australia and far beyond. Now in the cold cities down south, there are a lot of younger people who are saying, "This generation of retired Australians are a bit selfish, they're just into enjoying themselves."
RETIREE: Isn't that a fact? Isn't that a fact? Why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves?
STUART MANN: We are answerable to nobody. We don't have to turn up at any particular time, we don't have to wear a tie or a suit. We don't have to toe the line for anybody at any time. We call all the shots. Australians aged 55 and older are at the forefront of the rediscovering of this country. And they've created a national tourism boom, spending more than $10 billion a year on their travels. There are more than 325,000 caravans, motor homes and camper trailers currently registered and, at any one time, up to 80,000 of them are on what's known as the big lap around Australia. Out on the road you find them everywhere from Kosciuszko to Kakadu, from Broome to Cape York, but there's one place that's on the very top of all of their wish lists and that's out here in the red dust of Central Australia in the slanting afternoon light just before the sun sets on the Rock.
FRED DYER: Almost sunset. It's 5.45 now.
CHARLES WOOLEY: This is like a religious observation.
FRED DYER: It is, it is. You sit and watch and every time you look at the rock, the colour has changed just slightly. If you turn away for five minutes to have a talk with someone and look back, it's a different colour. It really is amazing, you know.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Brisbane nomads Fred and Kath Dyer are three-and-a-half months into an odyssey that could last three years or even a lifetime. How long do you think you could stay out there?
KATHE DYER: Indefinitely.
FRED DYER: I think almost indefinitely, you could, yeah. There isn't much we haven't got with us. We travel pretty well and pretty comfortably. So there really is nothing we haven't got.
CHARLES WOOLEY: At Queensland's caravan and camping expo the largest of its kind in Australia you soon realise what a massive industry going bush has become. Much more than a swag and a terry-towelling hat. A new caravan is manufactured every 14 minutes and the choice is mind boggling, from decadent luxury to fair dinkum camping.
SALESMAN: They're very easy to set up. We can go from this mode here, what we call our track mode, to something like this four or five minutes, one person.
CHARLES WOOLEY: I had been looking at around the $22,000, $23,000 mark. What's this?
TROY: Something like this on the road, 750.
CHARLES WOOLEY: This isn't so much getting away from it all as taking it all with you. The new Swagmaster comes with washing machine, fridge, ensuite, air conditioning and a 350 turbo-charged diesel to pull the lot. How many have you sold?
TROY: Well, this we've got over 4000 vehicles on the road over a 22-year history.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Four thousand? You think I would have run into one of them by now.
TROY: Yeah, Australia's like a Bermuda triangle. They all sort of disappear when they leave the shed.
BERNARD SALT: If 4.1 million people decide to go caravaning and camping, then, stand back the industry just explodes and that is precisely what I think will happen over the next decade.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Australia's leading demographer, Bernard Salt, has been counting them out. He knows a population trend when he sees one and predicts we're only at the beginning of a nomadic explosion.
BERNARD SALT: The baby boomer generation born between 1946 and 1961 are now hitting their 50s and, in vast numbers, are looking for a sea change or a lifestyle shift. Adventurers, discoverers, people seeking an experience if you like. This is a redefinition of the 50-something time in life by the boomers.
HEDY MCALEESE: You've worked hard for so long, so many years being tied down to timetables and all of sudden you just say, "That's it, we don't have to anymore so we're not."
CHARLES WOOLEY: For Russell and Hedy McAleese the decision to follow their migratory urge was spurred by the realisation that time was running out when a good friend was stricken with cancer.
RUSSELL MCALEESE: It was one of the things that really hit home to me. You're only on the planet for a short time and there's things that we wanted to do that we hadn't done. I mean I've been running a business since I was 22 years of age.
CHARLES WOOLEY: So they hit the road and they're not coming back.
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Doing what we're doing, it's been just absolutely fantastic for our relationship. I mean we've been married 33 years this year.
CHARLES WOOLEY: So it is romantic?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Yes.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And that's why you don't want to be called a grey nomad?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: True.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Because you're a hunter and a lover?
RUSSELL MCALEESE: Yes.
BERNARD SALT: Well, grey nomads is a term that has evolved from somewhere over the last 10 or 15 years and it's a term that will not be countenanced by the baby boomer generation. It's a downbeat, daggy term. Grey nomads are out.
STUART MANN: It does sort of put you in the done rootin' category pardon the expression but it really does sort of, to me, it does put you in that. And I feel that that sort of comes about quickly enough in life without really, sort of, promoting it you know? Who wants to sort of put the flag up and say, 'Hey, this is us. We're all done'?
CHARLES WOOLEY: Stuart and Judy Mann call themselves sun birders. They've rented out their house and for the past three years, they've been full-time, following the sun. Home for the Manns and their dogs is the car, the caravan and the empty horizon.
JUDY MANN: It's a very addictive thing. And it's hard to explain. Once you get going, it just grows and grows and it just gets better.
STUART MANN: It's the closest thing to freedom that you ever get, the feeling of no stress and you haven't got all the wankers in the world that I've had to deal with in business all my life suddenly you're cut free.
BERNARD SALT: The shift of the baby boomers into the 50-something time in life is actually changing the settlement of Australia. This is the generation that created the great Australian suburbia, that we now celebrate with Neighbours and Kath and Kim. That suburbia is now on the move. [Up to] 4.1 million people hitting the road is an extraordinary impact, both financially, culturally and socially across Australia.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Broome in the top end of Western Australia is the nation's grey nomad capital. At the last national census, there were more people living in caravans here than anywhere else in the country. It's the magic hour and everywhere you look you see modern sundowners like the Tucks spending the kids' inheritance and enjoying the Indian Ocean sunset. Is it a totally irresponsible and care-free life?
MRS TUCK: Yes, it is.
RETIREE: I just tell my children that we can't take our money with us when we go, but we can leave our debts behind.
CHARLES WOOLEY: The Kimberly is possibly the last frontier of tourism in Australia, but travelling around this last week, I found it was like this everywhere. All over the country, the new pioneers were reclaiming regional Australia and reshaping it sometimes in surprising ways. We're doing a little trip down this rough, red byway, 'cause I'm following a rumour. I've heard that down here, somewhere out there where the red earth meets the Indian Ocean, there's a grey nomad camp and unbelievably, they've built there a bowling green. This must be about as remote as a bowling green gets. Quite frankly, I was bowled over by this little place called Barn Hill. Those who love and cherish this remote spot want to keep it a secret. But with so many of them on the road now, secrets are harder to keep.
ANN SHILLING: I think people are inclined to stay at home more now and they're travelling around Australia far more than what they used to, because they used to go overseas. So I think we see far more new rigs come in here than we ever saw before.
CHARLES WOOLEY: The baby boomers have cashed in their superannuation...
ANN SHILLING: Yeah, I think they're staying close to home. They feel safer to travel around Australia.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And some have sold their houses, of course.
ANN SHILLING: Oh, yes, lots. Lots.
CHARLES WOOLEY: From Mick and Ann Shillings' million-dollar cliff-top view to Len and Tess Clarke fishing on the beach. And from the ladies knitting in Dot's Corner to the gentle action on the bowling green. Barn Hill is like a 21st century commune, a friendly pit stop for travellers on a journey that will only end when they do.
TESS CLARKE: Sitting out in the boat right there, they may have a better chance today, but you never know.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's all about the time of day and the tide, isn't it?
TESS CLARKE: Yes and there's tomorrow, too.
CHARLES WOOLEY: There's always tomorrow.
TESS CLARKE: Yes, there's always tomorrow. Come back again.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Isn't that wonderful?
TESS CLARKE: Yes, that's the way to be. Clear conscience and live for tomorrow and today.
CHARLES WOOLEY: You've got me. So when people say to you, "This is selfish, this is typical 'me generation', this opting out and doing your own thing..."
STUART MANN: I say 'Yes! That's us. We're doing it. We're on the road, boy...' And I tell you what, we're going to stay there. We're staying right there for as long as we can. Just heading into the sunset. That's it, Charlie.