Great, so you’re contemplating retiring and travelling the country with your wife, caravan and canary! It is a fantastic idea and can be a fun way of life. Go for it!

Over the past Ten years, the wife and I spent just over six months of the year, on and off during the year, travelling the country. We did the Star Grading of most of the graded resorts country wide. We camped in over 80 caravan parks a year, and tow our sponsored Jurgens Fleetline caravan around 25 000 kilometers a year. (We budgeted R 5 000.00 a month for fuel and running costs.) Naturally, we did not pay to stay in the caravan parks, as we are there on official business. In other words, can you believe it, we got paid to camp! Wow, what a boring lifestyle we lead.

We naturally meet up and talk to literally hundreds of retired persons from all walks of life during our stay in some of these parks. These campers all have a common goal. Camp and live, meet likeminded people, fish, braai, drink a beer or two, (or tea/coffee) and spend half the day discussing the weather and how the park should be run!

Most of these pensioners have their preferred caravan park, and spend two, maybe three months or so in the park and then go back home. Quite a number spend six to eight months in the park and then they go back home again. They normally have to vacate the park end of October, or they will be charged full December / January high season daily rates.

Then there is the retired person travelling the country and only spending a few weeks / months in a park at a time. Most of these people also return home again over the high season, unless they are prepared to pay the high season daily rates.

I would go as far as to say that 99% of these pensioners have a house/flat/town house to return to. They probably even have a granny flat on one of their children’s’ properties, or something in that line.

You hear all these stories of someone retiring, selling up everything, and spending the rest of their lives travelling the country with their caravan. Not so! Only a very small minority of retired campers has ‘sold up’ and spends their lives travelling and camping.

My best advice to anyone who have decided to or is contemplating travelling the country for ever after with a caravan, is to first try it out! Remember one thing; you are coming out of a two or three bedroom home with large gardens and swimming pool, braai and entertainment area, dogs, cats, canary and most of all, bedroom with bathroom on suite!

You are now going to have to stay in a caravan with or without a tent, use a communal bathroom, and live on a site that has an average size of ten by twelve meters, with about two to three meters between yourself and your neighbor! It also rains and the wind can get up some on the coast in a caravan park. If you are 100% sure this is for you – go for it! Just remember one thing. Most of these caravan parks do not allow dogs, cats or canaries. You will have to find or arrange other lodgings for Fido, Fifi or Pretty Boy!

On the brighter side!

It’s great fun travelling the country with a caravan on tow. To set up camp for a week/month or two, and relax, sleep in, and come and go as and when you will. You will soon discover that it is a very special way of life. If you feel like exploring the country today, visit the local museums, or go for a hike, yippee! Do it! If you feel like spending the day in the sun, shade or in bed with a book – again, yippee! Do it! There are no time constraints or stress when you are camping for ever after. You have come out of life in the fast track, and now you are enjoying life in the very slow track!

Most caravan parks in the country offer special pensioner discount rates. Some parks offer extremely attractive monthly rates. I have heard of parks offering monthly rates as little as R 750.00 for two persons a month. (This was from a very nice park as well.) The average seems to be around R 1 200.00 – R 1 800.00 per month for two persons, with some charging R 2 500.00 per month. Remember, you also get what you pay for. You need to shop around a bit, and also ask around.

Most important, do not jump into the deep end and ‘sell up’. This could be your way of life, but it also might not be. Give it a trial run first. Also remember, as one gets older, so do health complications set in. Yet, I have run into retired campers in their 80’s, fit as the proverbial fiddles, and still going strong. They put up their own tents, take them down, hitch up and go, and come back again next year!

Go on, give it a bash. This may yet be the best way to spend your ‘Golden Years’, and not only have fun, but also meet great people!

Happy retirement.

Willie.