With just a caravan, campervan or a four-wheel-drive and a tent, older Australian women are heading out on the open road to fulfil a sense of adventure and find freedom in the vast countryside.
Tackling challenges such as changing flat tyres, navigating roads with a caravan and vehicle breakdowns, these women take it all in their stride as part of the journey.
University of Technology Sydney PhD candidate Margaret Yates embarked on her research with a trip of her own, talking to female travellers to explore their motivations and experiences.
The majority were women who Ms Yates described as invisible in the media and literature: those over 60 and who considered themselves retired.
“I wanted the focus to be on women because those stories often don’t get told and there’s pretty much no literature on women of this age,” she told AAP.
Ms Yates interviewed 29 women travelling solo across the country, from the dusty Oodnadatta Track to the spectacular Tasmanian wilderness.
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“The main theme of the study was a sense of freedom – they could go where they wanted, when they wanted and without having to consider anyone else,” she said.
“After having children and caring for grandchildren, these women were now without obligation and their sense of adventure and drive to explore the country was ignited.”
The study was part of a wider research project examining the experiences, health and social needs of female travellers from the “grey nomad” population.
It found many of the women interviewed, despite living with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, reported better wellbeing, less stress and improved health due to the travelling lifestyle.
As for mental wellbeing, many women also reported the benefits of the social lifestyle that come with this sort of travel.
“Loneliness was not a huge factor because travelling is actually quite social,” Ms Yates said.
“For the women who live permanently on the road, a lot of them preferred to be by themselves but they would suss out the people at the campsites they visited.
“Everybody talks to everybody – it’s very friendly and it’s very social.”
One of the case studies – a woman in her mid-60s – said roadblocks along the way such as intermittent communications, car breakdowns and isolation in remote areas helped her develop self-knowledge and self-confidence.
“If you are in a situation where you’re in the middle of nowhere and you get a flat tyre and there’s nobody about, you go, well, I’ve got to deal with it,” she said.
“If I don’t deal with it, I’m stuck here … I’ve learnt a lot about myself, my weak points and my strong points as well.”
