Just to introduce myself, I retired from the workforce in 2013 and was living in the Blue Mountains NSW. I had planned to travel Australia with my wife. We also decided to sell our home and move to the Newcastle area of NSW to be closer to family. We bought land at Cooranbong and organised a builder. Everything was put in storage and we lived in the caravan waiting for the land to be released and the build to start.

Sadly during this period my wife of 27 years was diagnosed with stage four asbestosis. She past away 10 weeks after the diagnosis. Most of that time she was hospitalised. Plans of caravan touring and holidays seemed an unreachable dream. I can fully sympathise with the victims and relatives of this terrible disease.

However, time is the greatest healer and life goes on. Having become very lonely and living in the caravan, the house build started and time seemed to be taken up with building, landscaping, fences etc. also sorting through all the possessions in storage.

I then had the good fortune to meet a lovely lady who also had been through a lot of sadness, disruption and anxiety in her life. Eventually we married and thankfully my new wife loves the caravanning life and had been a caravaner in her earlier years. We now spend most winters in far north Queensland. We also have plans for future trips to South Australia, NT and WA.

We have met many fellow grey nomads over the years with some fantastic memories and funny times. We now make sure we spend time at our selected favourite caravan parks and mingle with friendly caravaners having a good time. There's never a dull moment.