On the road…
Whatever your age or vehicle, just go
A modest station wagon, I noted. A white Toyota, and not a new model. A medium size vehicle of the type that carts people around the suburbs.
A man and woman get out. He reaches into the back of the car to extract a tent, I assume. Nothing doing.
They are an older couple. Into their seventies, for sure. He is tall, slim and balding and wears blue jeans and an open-neck Tshirt. His partner is shorter, her dark hair curly. There’s a little cognitive dissonance here. Basic travel in a station wagon is usually the practice of younger people, however this couple are not young.
I’m a little surprised when the couple cover their front windscreen with a sunshade then do the same to the side and rear windows. Into both front side windows the man wedges insect screen material, fastening it to the doors with adhesive tape.
I am witnessing the conversion of an ordinary station wagon into a camper.
Unlearning assumptions
The couple overnight in their station wagon and in doing so emphasise a point about making assumptions.
The first point: Do not assume that older travellers avoid basic travel and basic overnight accommodation.
In saying this I am reminded of Stephen, a man who must be in his seventies and who travels in his short-wheelbase VW Caddy. He fitted it out with a sleeping platform and a kitchen box. He carries all he needs for travel in this tiny vehicle. Anothern example came from a middle aged couple who travel and overnight in their Ford Falcon station wagon.
Age, despite the erroneous assumption, is no deterrent to basic travel and living out of a station wagon. Did that couple with their white station wagon travel this way when they were young? Maybe. Sometimes people think how it was back then, realise it was good, then go out and recreate it.
The second point: Dump the assumption that you need a specialist adventure vehicle to get out there on the highways and into the backblocks.
Unless you seek an authentic 4WD adventure, your existing vehicle, whether van, station wagon or sedan can be converted into a vehicle to get you along unsurfaced secondary roads and provide basecamp accommodation out in the mountains, on isolated coasts and end-of-the-rough-road surfing beaches.
All you need do is this: load storage boxes with clothing, food and basic cookware; stow your car camping stuff like tent and stove; load up your packs/cameras/mountain bikes/surfboards. Then go.
No matter your age or your vehicle, the mountains, coasts and and highways await.
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