I know this is a bit indulgent on my part but today was my 60th birthday. I had a great day with family and friends of 45yrs. And now I feel I am in the home stretch to plan my retirement in about 4 - 5 yrs and by then have a motorhome, and have done some small trips and get ready to get on the road for the bigger trips and to meet some of you wonderful people/
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Judy
"There is no moment of delight in any journey like the beginning of it"
Happy Birthday Judy. Great you have had a wonderful day and many more to come.
Sorry I missed spotting it first, I haven't checked the list for a while. I think we need an alert which announces peoples birthdays everyday like they have on facebook. Then no one would get missed.
Hi Judy and happy birthday - get your plans in order - get out and do some small trips - meet up with some other Grey Nomads from the site - this is the best life ever - I just love it!!!
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)
Happy birthday Barina!!! If you wait until you can afford it and the time is right then you'll never do it - find a way to do it NOW!!! I've lost way too many friends who were still planning what they were going to do when the time was right.
Thanks all for your birthday wishes and advice on making the big decision. I still work full time so cannot get "The Blue n White card yet". I will seriously look at if I can afford to take off towards the end of next year as I don't have a lot in super so would need to keep myself until 65.5.
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Judy
"There is no moment of delight in any journey like the beginning of it"
Thanks all for your birthday wishes and advice on making the big decision. I still work full time so cannot get "The Blue n White card yet". I will seriously look at if I can afford to take off towards the end of next year as I don't have a lot in super so would need to keep myself until 65.5.
Judy I didn't have a lot in my super either as I went back to the workforce late but needless to say it was not far under $100,000.00 and it got us the caravan and our 4WD and some fixings for the van etc. I am 55 years old and because I have left work now on a disability pension we decided that it was a good time to get both of those big items when we could.
Hi Michelle, unfortunately I would not be entitled to any pension, centrelink payment so I would need to be totally self funded and I don't have enough for 5yrs. I will certainly lo0ok at the situation next year......but meanwhile I keep dreaming and planning....
Enjoy your travels
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Judy
"There is no moment of delight in any journey like the beginning of it"
Hi Michelle, unfortunately I would not be entitled to any pension, centrelink payment so I would need to be totally self funded and I don't have enough for 5yrs. I will certainly lo0ok at the situation next year......but meanwhile I keep dreaming and planning....
Enjoy your travels
I have to agree with you actually Judy because if I did not have the disability pension I would have still be working. I still can't go anywhere unfortunately because we are looking after mum for 8 weeks so I go up to the van and sit in it and dream of what life on the road would be like. . . .silly I know but no harm in dreaming is there?
Yes Michelle we must always dream, keeps me going I think about the great people I will meet and places I will go and all the terrific things to see..........
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Judy
"There is no moment of delight in any journey like the beginning of it"
Belated Happy Birthday from me too Barina! My 'big' sister had her 60th earlier in July, and my ex husband in March. Yep, '52 must have been a good year.
Yes Michelle we must always dream, keeps me going I think about the great people I will meet and places I will go and all the terrific things to see..........
Well Judy when we both manage to get ourselves out on the road I hope we meet up for a cuppa and a chat.
Happy Birthday. Keep the dream alive. It's your dream. It will be your life if you want it bad enough and work toward it. I'm heading towards my eldest daughter's 40th next month. That makes me old.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
all you young chicks on here. What about us old buggers.
My daughter is 46.
If you happen to leave your job LOL after about 6 weeks you can get the newstart allowance.
If you happen to be travelling looking for a job (somewhere in Australia) it might be hard for them to find you that job.
I spend the last two years of my working life as a volunteer for blazeaid doing fencing and at a Historical steam railway playing trains. If you do your time required you have the rest of the time to enjoy yourself. If you do the right thing and actually help out as you travel many places will give you the assistance to get the newsstart allowance as they have to be able to confirm you did your time. One of mine was prepared to cover when I needed it as I spent many times months helping them so the times when I was not able to get there they were prepared to cover that time. Not that they ever got asked.
Volunteering also gives you many openings that are not possible when you just travel through an area.
Most CES people are happy if you do your minimum time and then do your thing. Only had one old girl get upperty and I think she was jealous.
Too many people wait till they retire or are older , but many don't make the grade and drop off the perch before they h=get a chance or ill health ends their plans.
My health has improved since giving up that work thing and I am having a ball so don't wait to long or it may be too late.
By the way happy Birthday to ALL our birthday people.
Regards Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
While some might think you're 'bludging' off the system beiffe, I admire you for doing all that volunteer work.
An old school friend of mine was widowed at 49. She'd spent all her married life as a homemaker and raising 3 kids. She'd also done a good deal of volunteer work as the kids got older. When her husband died within a month of being told he had bowel cancer, Centrelink didn't make her go to work, but advised her to keep up her volunteer work. At the time, I was annoyed because I was under pressure from Centerlink to get a job because I was divorced, not widowed. I thought, maybe I should have killed the bast**d! I was just in that state of mind.
But these days I've softened my stance. She had a home that was paid for, whatever money she got from Centrelink was enough for her to live on, and she was doing her bit for the community.
In my opinion, it's no good waiting to do some voluntary work when you're retired and may be too frail. If you're fit and able, and want to live a simpler life, get out there and help the community.
