Freedom on four wheels: Why older Aussie women are embracing the grey nomad lifestyle

Across Australia, grey nomads pack up their belongings year-round, setting off on journeys that span thousands of kilometres in search of a new lifestyle and a change of scenery, hoping to experience all that the country has to offer.

While each traveller’s motivation to embrace the open road varies, recent findings reveal that a growing number of older Australian women are hitting the road to rediscover a sense of adventure and freedom in the vast, untamed landscape.

University of Technology Sydney PhD candidate Margaret Yates set out to understand their experiences, conducting research that began with a road trip of her own. Through her travels, she connected with female adventurers to uncover their motivations and experiences.

Many of the women Yates spoke to were over 60, retired, and largely overlooked in media and literature—a group she described as invisible.

“I wanted the focus to be on women because those stories often don’t get told and there’s pretty much no literature on women of this age,” she told AAP.

Yates interviewed 29 women travelling solo across the country, exploring what drew them to life on the open road.

“The main theme of the study was a sense of freedom – they could go where they wanted, when they wanted and without having to consider anyone else,” she said.

“After having children and caring for grandchildren, these women were now without obligation and their sense of adventure and drive to explore the country was ignited.”

The study was part of a wider research project examining the experiences, health and social needs of female travellers from the “grey nomad” population.

Yates also found that many of the women she interviewed, despite living with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, reported better well-being, less stress, and improved health due to the travelling lifestyle.

Beyond physical health, many women found the social aspects of the grey nomad lifestyle to be a key benefit.

“Loneliness was not a huge factor because travelling is actually quite social,” Yates said.

“For the women who live permanently on the road, a lot of them preferred to be by themselves but they would suss out the people at the campsites they visited.

“Everybody talks to everybody – it’s very friendly and it’s very social.”

-with AAP.