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NEWS
Twenty years of Grey Nomads
It was 20 years ago that influential Grey Nomads doco first hit the screenHave you ever wondered where the term ‘grey nomad’ comes from?
It seems to have been around forever, but its origins can be traced back 20 years when a documentary film about older, retired people hitting the road to experience a nomadic life, was first screened.
Along with other subjects including a retired psychiatrist riding a motorcycle and sleeping in a tent, the 57 minute doco focuses on 62-year-old Mary Mason, who takes the then radical decision to sell her house, buy a campervan and set off on her own on a Big Lap of Australia.
Apparently, the film-makers were trying to think up a name for their doco about retirees who either sold up or decided to spend the kids’ inheritance and live out their dreams, when they simultaneously hit on the term ‘grey nomads’. The rest, they say, is history…
The entertaining doco touches on a number of subjects still relevant today, including finding love again in older age, dealing with mental and physical illness while travelling, and breaking free from domestic and family duties for the first time...
The government-funded doco was well received, winning three film festival awards in the USA, and still stands up today, despite most of the tow vehicles being locally-built six- or eight-cylinder sedans or stations wagons, unlike the imported SUVs and utes more commonplace today.
There are plenty of light-hearted moments too, right from the opening scenes when the husband tries to explain the motivation for leaving everything behind, as his wife giggles in the background.
“We’ve arranged our funerals, we’ve told our children, we are doing exactly what we want to do… if we get killed we’ll get killed doing exactly what we want to do,” he says.
If you haven’t seen it yet, the entire film can be viewed via the link below…
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Written byChris Fincham
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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