Expert's number one complaint against grey nomads
An Aussie farm contractor has taken aim at "entitled" travellers at campsites, many of whom are "grey nomads".
Victoria, aged in her 30s, spends a lot of time on the road travelling for work as she "runs the bar and does a bit of camp hosting" at Charlotte Plains, an outback sheep station and campground almost 800 kilometres west of Brisbane.
Through her job, Victoria said most of her clientele at the campsites are over the age of 50, and she claims most of her problems are with these older travellers.
Although she "doesn't want to generalise too much", she does "feel the need to speak out about them" so the younger generation "know what not to do" and become "better people".
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Victoria said in addition to their "general sense of entitlement", grey nomads, in her experience, had a tendency to "mansplain" issues she's acutely aware of, flout campsite rules, disregard safety policies and even resort to stealing from her.
"I've experienced a lot with grey nomads," she told Yahoo. "I've worked on farms for years. I'm very experienced with operating machinery. I drive my caravan well, a lot better than a lot of these guys, some of whom even need help reversing."
"But I guess the biggest issue I find is handling grey nomads, in particular is theft. I travelled South America in my 20s, and the only thing that ever went missing was a jar of Vegemite. Let me tell you, if my stuff is not nailed down, with grey nomads around — they've stolen it."
Victoria said it's "more than just toilet paper" that goes missing at campsites, recalling, "It will be hose fittings that are still on the hose. It could be a whole hose. A grey nomad stole my jockey wheel the other day — it's travelled the whole country in the same spot, and then the other day somebody sole it. Even my sunglasses."
"I don't want to categorise all baby boomers into one, but it's just that these are the people that I deal with," she argued, adding "there are bad people in every generation" but she says she rarely encounters badly behaved travellers under 40.
While Victoria says she doesn't want to over-generalise, she's been astounded by some of the disrespectful actions she's seen at the hand of the elderly travellers.
Speaking out in a bid to raise awareness of campsite safety and to deter young people from "acting like baby boomers", Victoria said she hopes by making her ordeals public it'll promote more courtesy from grey nomads in the future.
"The next generation is growing up fast," she said. "Hopefully the younger ones don't do the same things and are bit more courteous to others".
Image credits: TikTok