Retiring in style
To me Geoff and Sue have got retirement spot on!
A combination of travel, family time, gardening and plenty of hobbies.
While at home in Boyne Island QLD, Sue a retired nurse, volunteers at a charity shop and creates beautiful crafts using second hand materials. Geoff a retired builder restores and sells old tractors.
And together they tend to their gardens, an acre and a half of native plants and fresh fruit and veggies complete with ocean views.
Every year they travel either overseas or in their Mod Con Hybrid Camper, towed by their bright red Holden trailblazer.
This Camper is amazing! A compact camping trailer with ensuite toilet and shower. An amazing outdoor kitchen with tonnes of storage and extremely easy to tow. With their off grid set up it also makes these trips very low cost.
In the lead up to their travels, Sue spends weeks preparing home cooked meals using veggies from her garden, I had a peek inside their freezer to find rissoles, mashed veggies, savoury mince, casseroles, fish and even apple pies. She Cryovaks everything which saves so much space in the freezer and saves a lot of time and money once on the road.
And the jams! Sue makes all her own jams with home grown ingredients. She has definitely inspired me to make Pumpkin and Apricot jam as well as Lime and Ginger Marmalade.
Talking to this couple I was very distracted by food but back to travel…….
This trip they have hit the road for 12 weeks. So far their favourite spots include Kings canyon for it’s amazing walking trails and the Finke River for it’s beautiful riverside camping. They also ticked another item off their bucket list, flying over Lake Eyre in William Creek, SA.
As expected, they did lose a tyre to the Australian outback but that doesn’t phase these seasoned travellers.
They have plenty of travel hacks, but favourite is they swear by a kitchen gadget called the “Dream Pot.” This was the first time I have heard or seen it but I am sold! It’s basically a slow cooker that doesn’t require power, how good is that for off grid camping!
As much as they love travelling, they will always miss their family especially their grandkids and of course their garden but they won’t let that slow them down.
They love the camping life, meeting new people and visiting new places.
Next year they plan to travel Western Australia. We all hope they return to the Northern Territory very soon (especially Oscar)